Grid Connect Systems

A Grid Connect system differs somewhat from a standalone solar power system in that you do not maintain a bank of batteries, but your panels interact with the standard mains power supply from the national power grid. Grid Connect systems have a somewhat higher initial setup cost, mainly due to the specialised equipment and high-power solar panels required, but do have the distinct advantage that you can potentially make money from the electricity that your panels generate by selling your excess back to your electricity supplier! Step by Step... Solar Panels Instead of being set up as 12v, 24v or 48v banks, solar panels for a Grid Connect system are configured at higher voltages, typically ranging from 75v to 400v.  These are still the same solar panels that you would otherwise buy, but they are just wired up to produce higher voltages.  These higher voltages are required by the Grid Connect inverters (see below). Inverters As mentioned above, the Grid Connect inverter takes a higher input voltage than those that you would use on a standalone solar power system, but it does still produce a standard 240V AC output.  The big difference here though is that instead of being wired to a battery bank, the Grid Connect inverter has three connections:  directly to your solar panels (power-in), to your household wiring (power-out) and to the mains electricity supply (power-in and power-out). How it Works... The inverters work by taking the electricity generated by your solar panels and working out where this electricity is to be placed.  If you are running appliances in your house, the inverter will convert this electricity to 240V AC and feed it to your household wiring for you to use.  If more electricity is being generated than you are using, the inverter will convert the excess to 240V AC and push it back out to the mains electricity grid for others to use.  If  you are wanting to use more electricity than your panels are generating (especially at night), the inverter will bring in what's required from the mains electricity grid.  A meter will then work out the difference between how much electricity  your solar panels have generated as opposed to how much you actually used.  If you use less than you produce, then the electricity supplier will pay you for that excess.  If you use more than you produce, you will pay the difference between what you produce and what you use to the electricity supplier.

The sun converts highly compressed hydrogen gas into helium as part of a massive thermonuclear fusion process, liberating vast quantities of heat and light.

Solar panels collect energy from the sun and convert it into electricity.

The grid connect inverter provides the required electricity to the household, sourcing it from the solar panels, the mains electricity supply or both.  Excess electricity produced by the solar panels is fed back into the main electricity grid.

Electricity is provided by the grid connect inverter as needed by the household