Electricity bills can add up. Having a way to produce your own energy can make you less dependent and less vulnerable. Having a solar system can be a good source of electricity that can save you money and make you more self-reliant.
A good solar system can potentially have your home running on free electricity all year long. If you generate too much electricity (more than you can use), you may be able to sell the energy back to the grid, making you some extra money. Instead of getting electricity bills, you may receive cash from feeding the extra energy back to the grid.
Instead of buying an already designed solar system, you can opt to buy the individual parts and create a system yourself. This may be less expensive.
If you want to build a grid tied solar system, you will need:
Solar panels
Racking system
Inverters
This is the solar system which is connected to the grid. When the grid loses power, you should still have power and you can sell excess energy by feeding it to the grid.
For an off the grid system, you need:
Batteries
Power Center
Solar panels
Racking system
Add-ons
Inverters
This kind of solar system isn’t connected to the grid. Energy storage is an important component in a system like this. You will need batteries so you can have power at night when the sun is down.
The price of solar system parts continues to go down while the quality continues to go up. New records continue to be broken in reducing the cost per kilowatt hour as solar panels continue to become more efficient. Do your research though and make sure you get quality parts that have a good reputation. No sense in installing a bunch of junk on your roof. If you buy your solar system components directly, instead of letting the installer by it, you may save yourself a lot of money.
Be careful, never do a DIY solar system installation if you aren’t sure of what you are doing. You can buy the necessary parts and let a professional handle the installation. You don’t want to get injured and you want the system to work properly.
If you generate excess electricity, selling it back to the grid is a good option if it’s available to you. A bidirectional meter is used to track both, the electricity you feed into the grid and the electricity you take from the grid, through a process called net metering. The meter spins forward metering the electricity you take from the grid and backwards metering the electricity you feed into the grid. If you put more electricity in than you have drawn from the grid, you should be reimbursed or receive credit from your power provider.
You can also get paid by a power provider without using the net metering process. You feed power into the grid which is metered separately and you receive payment for the power at a wholesale rate. You also get an electricity bill for the power you have drawn from the grid as well.
A solar system may increase the value of your property. You may feel a little more secure knowing you have more control of your energy supply and are not so dependent on the system. You may experience less power outages.
Another option would be to look into getting your system set up by Tesla. At the time this article was written Tesla claims to have the lowest prices in solar in the nation. They claim they can set up solar on your home for only $1.49/Watt on existing roofs. They have eliminated their expensive sales staff and streamlined the permitting process. You can look into ordering solar from them at their website https://www.tesla.com/solarpanels.
Published on 2020-08-25 18:27:59
