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Solar Power: Have the Electric Utility Company Pay You

By: Marc Williams Are you aware of the advances in solar power generation? Technology has now enabled houses to be powered completely by solar power. Houses can now be powered by natural sunlight. Instead of paying a monthly electric bill how would you like the electric company to pay you for your excess electricity? That's right; any additional electricity that your solar power system produces that is not used by your home can be sold to the electricity company.

What is Required To Power My House with Solar Power?

Here is a list of the basic components of a solar power system.

• Solar cells. These are individual cells that convert sunlight into electricity.
• Solar panel. A solar array is a panel that contains a set of solar cells in a network. When many solar cells are combined in a solar panel the solar panel produces several watts of DC electricity.
• Solar array – Is a network of solar panels connected together. They produce DC electricity. The solar array must be facing the south and have uninterrupted access to sunlight.
• The Inverter changes the DC solar power into usable 120 Volt AC electricity which is the most common type used by most household appliances and lighting.
• The main function of a charge controller is to prevent over charging which results in out-gassing of the batteries, as well as keeping electrical storage in the batteries from discharging to the solar modules at night.
• Battery pack – Is charged during the day by the solar array. During the night it provides electricity to power the home.

How long will it take to recoup my investment in solar power?

The way to view a solar powered system is to view it as a long term investment. If you are planning on selling your home within the next couple of years investing in solar power is not worth it. Once you have priced the installation cost of a solar powered system and how much electricity it will produce per day, you can easily determine how long it will take to recoup your investment. Once the system has paid for itself, it keeps on producing electricity and saving you money. With rising cost of electricity purchased from the local electric utility, the reduced electric bill will pay for the solar power system over a few years.

Think about how much money you pay each month to the electric company. You pay them to light up your home, cook your food, keep your food fresh and frozen. You pay them in the summer months to power the air conditioner and in the winter months to power the heater. But wait, I have a gas or oil heating system. True, but there is still a blower fan and possibly a pump that require electricity to run. But why should you have to pay for electricity when you can get solar power that comes a natural source: the sun.

Solar cells convert sunlight into electricity. This solar power can run your air conditioner, computer, refrigerator, and other appliances. Instead of purchasing electricity from electric utility company convert the readily available sunlight into the useful electricity.

How come solar arrays are on the south side?

In order for a solar powered system to work, the solar arrays must have direct access to sunlight. They should not be blocked by any obstruction such as trees or buildings. The ideal location is on the southerly facing side of your roof, where the sun shines down directly.

Who in my area is the best installer of solar power?

To find out the going rate for having a solar power system installed call each of the solar power installation companies in your area. Ask them for an estimate for a solar power system. There are several things you should receive with the estimate.
• Itemized list of components that will be installed including manufacture and model number.
• An estimate on the maximum electricity produced by the proposed solar power system.
• Cost of installing the solar powered system.
• Check into any solar power rebates and tax incentives. Will they help you apply for them?

No matter how much you spend initially, you will make it back ten-fold when you figure that you’ll never again pay money to someone else to power your home.