You May Not Realize How Much Value Solar Energy Has
Customers, officials, and workers just entering the alternative energy field may not realize the ways in which a single home or small business solar power system actually benefits not just that single home or business, but also the entire grid as a whole. It is common for people who don’t know much about how solar power works to wonder what happens to excess power generated by the system during peak hours.
Most contemporary solar power systems aren’t installed on cabins way out in the wilderness where people don’t have access to conventional power. Today, most solar power systems are installed in towns and cities, and are actually hooked up to the existing power grid.
As excess power is produced in the solar system, it feeds the grid as a whole. When the solar system isn’t providing enough power, the home or business can pull power from the grid. Furthermore, in states that have net metering programs, home and business owners can actually be paid for generating excess electricity by their utility company.
Net Metering
Net metering programs are currently up and running in forty-four of the fifty U.S. states. Basically, they work by monitoring the ebb and flow of power from your home or business solar power system and your local grid. The customer is only charged for the net power they actually consume, against the excess power they fed to the grid.
This can make solar energy system ownership considerably more cost-effective. Of the remaining six states, some have voluntary programs for individual community utilities. Check with your solar installer or your local utility to learn what the net metering policy is in your area.
Solar Power Helps to Secure the Grid while Reducing Congestion
Like much of the infrastructure of the United States, our nation’s aging power grid is vulnerable to several potential problems. Weather, natural disasters, peak energy demand, and other issues all tax the system that we currently have in place.
Additionally, power lines can become congested at times due to specific demand for power, or because of downed power lines. Hooking solar power systems up to the grid helps to alleviate all of these problems in two ways.
Firstly, solar power systems generate power on site where it’s needed, and solar-powered homes and businesses only draw a fraction of their power from the grid. Secondly, solar power systems can help to stabilize the grid as times of peak demand (hot weather warranting excess use of air conditioning systems) usually coincide with times of peak solar generation.
Solar Power Doesn’t Just Benefit the Owners of a System
Solar power generation helps to stabilize grids, reduces peak demand from the grid itself, and puts money back into home or business owners’ pockets through net-metering programs. In the end, the value of a solar power system isn’t just in the power it generates for its owner.
[Photo via: BlogsEDF]
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