FXSTD – Alternative Energy Center

By: Bret Parker
Generating solar electricity using your own renewable energy home solar power system fits the circumstances and values of some home owners. Although it takes time and money to make a home solar power system, many home owners enjoy the independence they gain and the knowledge that their actions are helping the environment.

A renewable energy home solar power system can be used to supply some or all of the homes electricity needs. Some home owners, especially those in remote areas, use the solar electricity from their home solar power system in place of electricity supplied to them by the power electric companies.

Some home owners connect their home solar power system to the grid and use them to reduce the amount of conventional grid power supplied to them. A grid connected system allows you to sell any excess solar power you produce back to your power company.

Before you purchase and install a renewable energy home solar power system, home owner needs to work out the peak electricity load and build a suitable size renewable energy home solar power system that can meet all or some of your electricity needs.

Designing a new home you should work with the builder to incorporate your renewable energy home power system to have the power system installed during the build process. This will be a great start to building an energy-efficient home.

Operating Your System Off-Grid

For many home owners powering their homes using renewable energy home solar power system that is not connected to the electricity power grid is called a stand-alone power electric system which makes economic sense and appeals to their environmental issues and the stand-alone power system takes advantage of a combination of techniques to generate reliable solar electric power, reducing costs, and minimize the need to using fossil fuel and reducing the amount of electricity required to meet their needs.

In remote locations and if your house is positioned some distant from the power lines, a stand-alone systems can be more cost-effective than constructing a power line [cable] from the house to the power grid as is may be a long distant and every costly with the price of copper these days.

Stand alone systems are also used by home owners that live near the power grid and wish to remain independence from the power company and are committed to a “green electricity” environment issues to use non polluting energy sources.

Operating Your System connected to the grid.

While renewable energy home solar power system is capable of powering a home without any connection to the power grid, many home owners prefer the advantages that grid connection offers. Smaller solar panels and a solar power system as the large energy consuming devices can stay connected to the power grid.

A grid connected power system allows you to power your home with renewable energy during periods when the sun is shining, or when the wind is blowing. Any excess electricity you produce is fed back into the power grid. When renewable resources are unavailable, electricity from the power grid supplies the home needs, thus eliminating the expense of battery storage bank that may consist of several batteries connected in series parallel.

In addition, power companies in most states allow net metering, an arrangement where the excess solar electricity generated by grid-connected renewable energy home solar power system reverses your electric power meter as the electricity is fed back into the power grid.

The power company gives you credit for any power difference between what you used and what you produced during any month. Some months you may pay a small power bill and other months the power company will give credit for the solar electricity put back into the power grid.