Grid Tie Inverter for Solar Panel

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Sunday, November 29th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

If you’re generating excess power with your solar panels or wind turbines, a grid tie inverter will let you sell this electricity to the utility company.

US citizens have the right, as dictated in the 1978 Federal Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), to sell renewable energy to their local utility. This law came about in response to the 1973 Arab oil embargo and is just as welcome today.

An ordinary power inverter simply converts DC electricity to AC, which is needed for devices in the home. Inverters also convert the 12 or 24 volt electricity your installation is generating to 120 volts. Many users of renewable energy systems are missing out on the benefits of another, particular type of inverter, though. At 120 volts and 60 cycles per second, the AC electricity that comes from a power inverter is basically the same as that which comes right from the grid. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that both sources are cycling in phase with each other. You won’t be able to send your electricity to the grid if this is the case. A grid tie inverter will make sure that your inverter stays in sync with the grid.

There’s more to a grid tie inverter than just keeping the phase in sync. In a sense, electricity always goes downhill: it flows from higher voltage to lower voltage. This is how battery charging works. The electricity flows from the charger, which is at high voltage, to the battery, at lower voltage. This is why battery chargers have a higher voltage count than the batteries they’re used to charge.

By that principle, it’s necessary to have electricity of a slightly higher voltage than that of the grid in order to send your electricity there. A grid tie inverter will take care of this as well. With the proper voltage level, you can send your excess electricity back to the grid, and when you do this, your power meter will actually run backwards.

The special functions of a grid tie inverter make it more costly than a standard inverter. The opportunity to actually make money using your renewable energy system, though, means that a grid tie inverter is well worth the investment. A grid tie inverter will also provide AC power to appliances in your home as well, so it can really take care of all of your energy needs.

The idea of off grid living appeals to many people. You can get more information by visiting Off Grid Living.

To know more about how the solar power system works, you can check out Solar How To.

If you are looking for the best DIY charger plans, go to DIY Solar Charger.

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