It’s not always easy to perfectly match the amount of electricity your solar panels produce to your energy use. Many come into play that can affect output and usage, including the amount of sunshine (not much electricity generation happens on cloudy days!), roof angle, and more, sometimes, you might produce more energy than you need. Selling Excess Energy In a grid-tied system, excess energy produced by the solar panels can feed back into the electrical grid. If your utility company offers net metering, you can earn credits for the extra power you feed into the grid and reduce your current or future electricity bills. Sometimes, your electricity company may even send you a check in the mail for your energy production. Storing Excess Electricity Battery storage is an up-and-coming solar technology helping to (totally change and improve) and (make steady/make firm and strong) (able to last/helping the planet) energy production. With these solar electrical storage devices, you can store the excess power your solar system extracts from the sun’s energy and use it when sunlight is low, at nighttime, or during a cloudy day or power outage. Battery systems are also ideal for those looking to take advantage of solar panels to live off-grid, meaning they do not connect their homes to the electricity grid. They store excess power during the day in electrical storage devices, then use this stored energy to power their homes at night. What’s the Installation Process for Solar Panels? With a firm understanding of how solar panels work, you’re likely curious about how to install them. (Hint: You hire a professional!) Solar panel installation usually involves (more than two, but not a lot of) steps. Let’s lift the cover on the process and see what’s involved. Site Survey Any solar panel installation process starts with a site survey. During the survey, the installation company will test/evaluate the location’s suitability. Some key factors they’ll think about/believe include roof (direction of pointing/way of thinking/information meeting), shading, the sun’s path, and available roof space for panel placement. Engineering Design Once the surveyor thinks of/considers the site good, the solar panel company goes through an engineering design phase, where they map the installation area and decide/figure out the proper solar panel array layout to secure/make sure of best sun exposure. Permitting and Approvals At this point, the map created during the engineering design phase and any other needed/demanded information is submitted to the appropriate government (services businesses/government units) for approval and permitting. The company must also submit (paperwork that …
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