Are you aware of the advances in solar power generation? Technology has now enabled houses to be powered completely by solar power. Houses can now be powered by natural sunlight. Instead of paying a monthly electric bill how would you like the electric company to pay you for your excess electricity? That's right; any additional electricity that your solar power system produces that is not used by your home can be sold to the electricity company.

What is Required To Power My House with Solar Power?

Here is a list of the basic components of a solar power system.

• Solar cells capture the sun's energy and change it to electricity. Inside a solar panel, each cell contains silicon that absorbs sunlight. The energy in this absorbed light produces a small electrical current. Metal grids around the solar cells direct the currents into wires that lead to the power controls.
• Solar panel. A solar array is a panel that contains a set of solar cells in a network. When many solar cells are combined in a solar panel the solar panel produces several watts of DC electricity.
• The solar array is comprised of one or more solar panels. The solar modules need to be mounted facing the sun and avoiding shade for best results.
• Inverter – Converts DC electricity to AC electricity.
• The charge controller prevents sending electricity purchased from the electricity company through the solar array during the night.
• A battery pack provides a way to store excess generated solar power. The battery pack is discharged when the solar array is not generating power.

Is it worth investing in solar power for my home?

To power your home with electricity generated from sunlight requires a significant investment up front to purchase and have the equipment installed. With rising cost of electricity purchased from the local electric utility, your investment in solar power will be paid for fairly quickly in the form of a lower electric power bill.

Think about how much money you pay each month to the electric company. You pay them to illuminate your home, cook your food, keep your food fresh and frozen. You pay them in the summer months to power the air conditioner and in the winter months to power the heater. My heating system is oil or gas what do you mean that I pay the electric utility company to heat my home? The heater has a blower fan that is powered by electricity. But why should you have to pay for electricity when you can get solar power that comes a natural source: the sun.

The sun shines over head each and every day. Solar cells convert the sunlight into electricity. A solar powered system is connected to an inverter and optional battery pack. During the day time the solar array charges the battery pack and provides electricity to power your home. Any excess electricity is sold to the electric utility.

How come solar arrays are on the south side?

A solar power system's solar arrays work best in direct sunlight. They need to be angled toward the sun for optimal performance. The ideal location is on the southerly facing side of your roof, where the sun beats down directly.

Who in my area is the best installer of solar power?

To find out the going rate for having a solar power system installed call each of the solar power installation companies in your area. Ask them for an estimate for a solar power system. There are several things you should receive with the estimate.
• Itemized list of components that will be installed including manufacture and model number.
• How much electricity the system will produce with maximum sunlight.
• Total price of installing the solar powered system. There shouldn't be any cost overruns.
• Any solar power tax incentives and rebates that will help lower the installation cost.

Even thought the up front cost of installing a solar powered system can be expensive, the long term production of solar power will pay for itself many times over.

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