If you’re looking at installing solar panels on your property, then you may be wondering about the more intricate details.
More and more people are installing solar panels on their homes than ever before. There’s now enough solar power available to cover the energy usage of 23 million American homes. They might seem like complicated pieces of technology, but the way that solar panels and solar batteries work together is relatively simple.
In this post, we’re going to explain the importance of solar batteries by telling you how they work with the panels to help you store energy. To have an effective solar panel system, you need everything working in concert, so keep reading and learn more about solar batteries.
How Solar Panels Work
Solar panels are made up of many smaller cells, which are made from two pieces of silicon. Each piece of silicon is either negatively or positively charged, so when the photons from the sun’s rays hit them, the panels become stimulated and they produce energy.
This energy goes through the inverter that is hooked up to your solar panel system. Here, it’s converted from AC to the DC electricity that our homes use to power appliances, electronics, and most other things in our homes.
Net Metering
When you have a solar panel system installed on your home, the idea is to completely offset your energy usage. This will negate your hydro bill, which can end up saving you hundreds of dollars per month.
In some cases, you may end up producing more energy than you need. With net metering, you can send all of your excess energy back to the power grid and get paid for it.
Net metering can help you break even on your solar panels faster, but there are drawbacks as well. The main one is that net metering laws are always changing, so you can’t rely on getting the same rates all the time for your excess energy. Purchasing a battery for solar is often the better option.
What Are Solar Batteries?
A solar panel battery is a device that connects to your solar panel system and stores the energy that you’re not immediately using. Instead of sending it back to the grid, you get to save it and use it for your own applications.
Solar batteries are comprised of a series of lithium-ion battery cells and intricate electronics that ensure the safety of the solar energy being stored. You can either get AC or DC coupled storage batteries – the main difference being how it’s hooked up to your solar panels.
DC coupled storage batteries come before the solar inverter, while AC ones come after. DC coupled storage is more efficient, but you can store more energy with AC coupled storage. There are different styles and voltages that you can find here, on the Go Power website.
The Choice Is Yours
How you want your solar panel system to operate is completely up to you. With solar batteries, you can store more solar power and boost the overall efficiency of your system. If you need a bit of extra cash, however, you may prefer to rely on net metering instead.
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