Although in some ways, building a grid-linked solar power system is one of the more difficult undertakings in power conservation, it is also, in my opinion, the form of renewable energy least likely to impact your life. The reason for this is that the electricity is wired through the junction box in your house. Essentially, your solar power system is adding to the power coming into your house, meaning that if it’s cloudy, you’ll simply get power from the utility company. If you happen to have an efficient system and live in a sunny place, you may find yourself selling power back to the power company.
The first decision in this kind of installation is obviously whether to do it yourself or to hire out a contractor. This is a key question for anyone, but let it be stated that ANYONE who has the dedication and energy to learn can build a solar power system in their home.
The components you will need are as follows:
- Photovoltaic Array
- DC Disconnect
- Inverter
- AC Disconnect
Installation is actually relatively simple. Each component will come with its own set of instructions- and they are installed in the order I laid them out in above.
The first component, the array, is relatively simple (supposing you’re a good carpenter and can get them on a roof or platform). One simply adds the arrays side-by-side and connects positive to negative ends. Simple enough, yeah?
Well- the truth is that the installation remains simple at this point, but the idea becomes more difficult. You can’t use the power coming out of the photovoltaic array- so it needs to be fed to a DC disconnect. Again- positive to negative and so on. This is fed to another specific component- the inverter- which makes this power more usable. The final componenent in this system is the AC disconnect. This essentially makes the power compatible with your municiple source. Installation is once again simply connecting lead to lead.
One thing to consider in this process is location. Obviously, placing the solar panels is a topic of hot discussion. That’s worthy of another article. However, it should be noted that installation of the inverter and the two disconnects are usually done in a similar way. They are typically placed near your other home power supplies, someplace out of the way and probably at least a few feet off the ground.
In part, this location is for one final reason. We’re not done yet!
Now that we have our photovoltaic system in place, we have to make it work with the power already going into your house. It’s connected to two places- the first is to the breaker box, and the second is the utility box. The first connection allows power to flow from the photovoltaic system directly into your house. The second connection allows you to feed power back into the grid.
The beauty of a system like this is that you not only are able to power your home directly, but if you have a quality enough system, you may find yourself with negative balances on your electrical bills- always a benefit.
