The Safe Investment
After the initial investment solar provides free power for your home. It may even pay you through renewable energy credits, or through selling the excess back to the power company.
How solar works:
1.The sun’s rays fall upon the solar panels creating DC electricity.
2. Micro-Inverters convert the energy into AC power that your home appliances can use.
3. The energy is used by your home or goes back to the grid, making your meter run backwards.
4. The system is monitored so you can see how much power is being produced from inside the home or on the internet.
Mounting
Despite what some companies say, the solar learning process starts with the mounting, not the solar panels. You have to know where you are going to place your solar panels before you can plan your system. Most homeowners place their solar panels on their roof. However if your roof is heavily shaded by trees your installer may recommend mounting your solar panels on a pole next to the home.
Solar Panels
The silicone in solar panels releases electrons, positive and negative, when exposed to sunlight. These electrons, or energy, flow like water through the cables (one negative, one positive) coming out of the back of the solar panel towards the inverter. We use 220-230 watt solar panels. These panels are approximately 3 and 1/2 feet by 5 1/2 feet, and take up roughly 18 sqft on your roof.
Inverters
Inverters change DC energy, like what is in your car battery, into AC energy that your appliances can use. We use micro-inverters–one per panel- that connect together in a chain. These micro-inverters maximize the efficiency of each solar panel. While central inverters can convert significantly less power when a single solar panel is shaded, micro-inverters are not affected each other’s performance. This means you can place solar panels in areas of partial shading without greatly affecting the performance of the entire system.
Junction Box, and Safety Disconnect
The cable from the final micro-inverter in the chain connects to a junction box, where the AC wiring connects and runs down conduit to a safety disconnect
Monitoring
The monitoring we use tracks the energy production by each panel, reporting how much energy is being produced right now, today, this month and over the lifetime of the system. The monitoring also reports if there is any problems with your inverters, reporting it directly to the installer, and alerting the manufacturer so a replacement unit can be sent.
