Your local force in solar

Understanding Solar Power

Types Of Solar Energy

1. Solar Photovoltaic (solar PV)
• Use solar cells
2. Solar Thermal (solar hot water)
• Use either flat plates or tubes to capture the sun’s heat

Solar PV - Electricity System

1. Solar panels make 60% of the system
2. DC to AC inverters
• Power monitoring (display on inverter to show power generating at any one time)
• Remote power monitoring (separate display that wirelessly receives signals from the inverter)
• PC interface (interfacing to your PC and the web)
• Expandability (if you’re wanting to expand your system later on, you should consider an inverter that is
expandable
3. Wiring from inverter to main fuse box plus a disconnect switch
4. Main fuse box connection
5. Your new electricity meter (to enable importing & exporting electricity to the grid)

Solar PV – How It Works

1. Atoms in the silicon crystals in the solar PV panels are surrounded by electrons
2. Sunlight falls on the crystals of silicon and “electrons” are ejected and bounce around randomly, leaving behind
an electron hole
3. When an electron finds this hole and recombines, it creates energy = electricity
Primary purpose of the inverter is to boost the fairly feeble flow of electricity (low voltage DC) into clean and
reliable high voltage 240V AC (electricity that’s compatible with both household appliances and the electricity grid)

Solar Panels

1. Polocrystalline (Poly)
• Made by melting silicone chunks down in a mold to form brick-like ingots.
2. Monocrystalline (Mono)
• Grown by seeding molten silicone and drawing it up from a quartz crucible while rotating it to form a
cylindrical block.

Both as good as each other. Each panel and its manufacturer should be considered on a case-by-case basis

Solar Inverters

1. Central/String inverter
• Most common in Australia, has a high DV and some of these types of inverters only cope with panels
facing in one direction

2. Micro inverter
• Installed to each solar panel optimising each panel, panels can be installed in different directions and
they are more tolerant of shade and dirt

Battery Ready

Consider whether battery storage is a worthwhile option for you. Batteries can be connected to your solar system
to store the excess energy you generate during the day so that you can use it at night when your solar panels are
no longer generating electricity. This saves you from having to buy that electricity back from the grid.

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