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Solar Electric

Solar power is the cleanest and quietest electric technology available, and offers many advantages.

Benefits of a Solar Electric System:

• Reduce your electric bills because you no longer need to purchase as much power from your electric utility.
• Reduce your bills further still, through net metering, which credits you for any surplus solar electricity generated by your system.
• Be free from skyrocketing utility rates! The purchase of a system requires an up-front payment of the equipment cost, but the energy from the sun is free. So, the cost of generating your own electricity will be the same now as in 20 years time!
• Enjoy an uninterrupted supply of electricity during power outages, if your system design includes batteries.
• Save the environment because solar electric technology generates electricity without producing any emissions!

How a Solar Electric System Works:

The scientific term for " solar electricity " is " photovoltaic " energy, which means electricity from light. The amount of electricity produced by a system will vary. More electricity is generated when the light is most intense (a sunny day) and strikes the photovoltaic solar modules directly (when the sun’s rays are perpendicular to the modules).

Solar electric systems shouldn’t be confused with solar water-heating systems that operate by using the sun’s rays to heat water. Instead, solar electric technology converts sunlight directly into electricity. Whenever sunlight strikes the solar electric cells, it interacts with the semiconductor material and frees electrons, which produces electricity. These cells are the basic building blocks of a solar electric system and are wired together to form the modules, which are the system components that are sold commercially.

Power output from modules ranges from 10 to 300 watts. One or more modules are installed as part of a typical solar electric system. The modules are then connected to an electric utility through an inverter that changes the Direct Current (DC) produced by the cells into Alternating Current (AC). AC current is the same form of electricity supplied by your local electric utility and can be used to operate heating and cooling systems, appliances, lights, etc.

By connecting a solar electric system to your electric utility, you can automatically use power from both your system and the utility when your system’s output is low, such as on a cloudy day. On the other hand, you can send any extra power produced by your system back to the electric utility for a credit on future electric bills (this is called net metering).

Financing Solar Electric Projects

A common misconception about Solar Electric systems is that they are simply too expensive in comparison to conventional coal-powered electricty from the grid. However, with today's higher efficiency Solar Panels, coupled with using electricity wisely, financing such systems is easily accomplished. Companies like http://www.nanosolar.com/ are improving costs even more with innvative "printing press" style production of cells.

The average household uses roughly 1000 kilowatt-hours kWh of electical energy per month. How many solar panels would you need? Well, since the average usable daily sunlight is 5 hours or so, a 1-kW panel could provide 5 kWh per day, or 150 kWh per month. Thus, seven kilowatts of PV panels ( about seventy 100 watt panels about 2.5 by 4 feet in size for each panel) would provide enough energy to power the entire household. Now, the scary part: this seven kilowatt system,at an average cost of $9000/kW (including all equipment and installation costs) would cost $63,000, definately not a small investment for the average homeowner. No wonder solar energy seems expensive.

However, this is a workaround to this problem: saving energy and using it wisely. The efficiency section outlines many ways to save energy for both existing homes and homes-to-be. For example, simply swapping all of the normal incandescent light bulbs with compact flourescent lights can save 75% on lighting. Coupled with energy-efficient appliances, total energy consumption can drop by 90%!

This is a more feasible approach. A energy-efficient household with a requirement of just 100 kWh/month could run off about $6,300 worth of solar panels. And this is a one-time investment with countless benefits: high-return, no fuel costs, low maintenance, and reduced pollution!

Here is an breakdown of costs for a sample system:

With a return of 12% (which will increase as energy prices increase), solar panels represent a relatively risk- and tax-free investment. Compare that to an SUV that the average middle-class family will purchase:

To be certain, a solar electric system is an investment. Unlike conventional electricity, money must be fronted to finance the system. But during the relatively long payback period, one can bask in the comfort of self-sufficiency and of knowing that less fossil fuels are being burned. And once the system is paid off, the savings are there to stay!

Interesting Statistics