Sunlight is good for the body, as it helps in producing vitamin D to boost your immune system. Similarly, you can harness the power of the sun by converting it to electricity. A lot of the items you use in your daily life is powered by electric energy, to which many are still sourcing from the grid. Having a solar energy system in your home lets you break away free from this. It practically is a power plant that is built into your house, and you do not have to contend with power outages or monthly bills anymore. That is if you choose your components right.
The main players of a solar energy system are the photovoltaic panels. They are responsible for absorbing the sunlight and converting it to electrical energy. If you got them down pat, here are other important components that you have to study about.
Inverter
When the PV panels take the solar energy in, they turn it into electrical energy that uses direct current. This is not really suited for home use since you have equipment with varying degrees of electrical needs, and they need an energy flow that can constantly change. The inverter converts the constant flow of energy from DC into an alternating current or AC.
AC power basically allows the flow of electricity to be manipulated and moved to and from the power source. You can say that the inverter manages all that and it keeps everything safe by being able to contain all of that energy and directing them somewhere else.
Rails
Whether you are placing your PV panels on a roof or on a large open field, you need rails to have them secured. If you are confident that the place you are putting the panels in gets a lot of sunshine throughout the day, then you can settle with something that is fixed. There is another type of rail system that allows the tilting of the panels in all directions. This allows them to maintain a line of sight with the sun so the rays that you absorb will be at their peak levels.
Storage
When talking about solar power, some wonder what happens when the sun is out. Truth be told, if you only have the panels and inverters, they would not be enough to power your home through the night. What you need is a battery system, and the solar industry’s term for that is storage. If you want to completely move over to using solar as your main power source, you need this so you can have places where the electrical energy is stored. You can have your house powered directly by your panels during the day, and then switch to discharging your storage at night.
Solar power is getting into more homes every year. It is a complex system that you need to study about first before you decide on installing one at your home. It has enormous benefits for you in the financial sense, and it will also let you help the environment by reducing your carbon footprint. So let the sunshine in and enjoy the benefits of having green energy.
