solar how it works

SOLAR HOW IT WORKS
if you are going to have solar on your property
then the best place to live for all the max credits
is in california

but
we live in central texas
so this is how solar works here at the country n

it all starts with the panels
luckily you dont really have to do anything to them
i have had my first 16 panels for 11 years
and
have never ever done anything with them
but
put a long strip of duct tape across the top edge
folded back to keep my guianas from roosting on them
they finally gave in when the tape stuck to their feet
and
started roosting in with the chickens in the coop at night

i dont wash them or doing anything to them but admire them
i once as in the picture
climbed up there and planked with them

this summer we added 10 more new panels to increase our capacity
almost twice
those 10 new ones do what the 16 older ones did plus they are
cheaper
technology has progressed in 10 years
prices have fallen

from these panels the dc electricity goes to
this inverter which converts it to ac electricity

from here it goes to a smart meter on the light pole
near our house

if we need electricity it goes into our house
if we dont need all of it whats not used goes back up
into the electric lines
for others to use

the smart meter keeps up with how much goes up into
the lines
the numbers on the meter goes backwards

then when i need electricity from the electric company
it makes the meter go the other way

back and forth all day when its sunny
at night it only goes one way

if the electricity goes off in the electric companys system
like a line goes down or a storm damages it
our solar shuts down automatically
only kicking back on when the electric companys system
starts back up

this is what is called a grid tied system

if you want to be off the grid the electricity you generate
goes to a bunch of batteries that store it until its needed
they are expensive and have to be replaced

using the grid tied system you are basically using the electric lines
as you batteries with the electric company as your backup

here is my latest bill
at the top i used 1172 kw of electricity that was pulled from the
electric companies lines
minus
what excess i didnt use that went up into the electric lines 238 kw
equals
how much of the electricity of the electric company i used 934 kw

so my total use last month was 934 kwh
at a cost of $106.28
of that cost $22.50 was for just being hooked up to the
electric companies system

now i actually paid nothing since i still have credit from
installing my new ac heat system
which gave me a $300 credit back in june
ie
i havent paid an electric bill for over 6 months
with a still remaining $59.86 credit for this months bill

i would have owed $106.28
which is over half of the usual december electric bill

now if i want to know exactly how much i produced each
month i have to go to my inverter to get that information
which i rarely do
since
it really doesnt matter
its that bottom line bill that counts
$0 for the last 7 months

so in summary
this new addition cost about $12,000
a federal tax credit of 30% will be claimed on my taxes
thats about $3600
plus the $300 credit from the electric company
plus it produces about 80+_% of our electric needs
one month my bill would have been only 38 cents plus the base $22.50

it will pay for itself in less than 10 years
no maintenance required
plus it adds value to our property
that value is property tax exempted

the old system cost $15,000
even without a tax credit it has paid for itself already

the bottom line i guess is

why dont we all do this

the organicgreen doctor