It’s no secret that solar panels are becoming increasingly popular for powering homes and not only that. This method of capturing solar energy and transforming it into electricity is extremely advantageous and environmentally friendly.
Maintenance of solar panels after their installation is easy, needing only a solar panel cleaning kit, but what is more difficult is deciding which type of solar panel system is right for you.
Once you’ve selected the right solar panel for your home, it’s important to understand how many solar panels you need for efficient operation. This depends on many factors such as your location, roof size and solar panel type, and there are solar calculators available to help you make the right decision.
In this article we will present the three existing types of photovoltaic systems and the difference between them. Read on to find out which one is right for you and your home.
What Type of Solar Panel System You Need
When it comes to installing solar panels for your home, the first thing to consider is what type of solar panel is suitable for your needs. Currently, three solar systems are the most coming among homeowners. These three options available are called: off-grid, on-grid, and hybrid.
Off-Grid
An on-grid photovoltaic system is built of several solar panels, an on-grid inverter, and a meter for measuring the daily electricity produced. The on-grid photovoltaic system is connected to the public electricity grid. The electricity produced by your solar panels will be first allocated for your home’s consumption. All the additional energy that your solar panels generate will be injected into the public electrical grid, where it will be used by other consumers too. This type of photovoltaic system does not contain batteries, so you cannot store additional energy. If one day your photovoltaic system does not capture enough solar energy, then the gap will be supplemented by electricity from the public grid.
On-Grid
The off-grid photovoltaic system consists of solar panels and accumulators that store all the additional electrical energy that the solar panels produce. The supplementary electrical energy stored can be used on cloudy or rainy days when the production is weaker or even non-existent due to the lack of sunlight.
Compared to the on-grid photovoltaic system, the off-grid one does not require a contract with any supplier, you being in charge of your electricity’s production. Moreover, thanks to the batteries that can store additional energy, you have electricity during the day, at night, and on dark days. What is important to take into account when it comes to storage batteries is that they must be placed in a ventilated space, with a constant temperature and low humidity.
Hybrid
The last type of photovoltaic system is the hybrid one. This type of photovoltaic system is a combination between the off-grid and the on-grid system. The hybrid system comes equipped with a special inverter that provides a series of settings such as the consumption of electricity produced by the solar panels and the additional one to be supplemented by electricity from the public grid, the consumption of electricity produced by the solar panels and the storage of the additional energy in batteries to be used at other times, and the last setting is the consumption of energy from the solar panels and setting the batteries to charge at night from the public grid. The hybrid photovoltaic system is the most expensive of all three.
How To Calculate How Many Solar Panels You Need For Your Home
To determine approximately how many solar panels you need, it is enough to consult two or three of the bills you pay to the public grid. Your electricity bills can give you an indication of how much energy you consume in a month.
You can also divide the consumption by the days of an entire month, and you will get the energy consumption per day.
After you find out the approximate energy consumption per day, you must know that a solar panel can produce about 250 watts of power. In all these calculations, don’t forget to take into account another important factors: the size of your roof, the direction, pitch, and shading of your roof. To get an accurate estimate, it is best to consult a qualified professional who can help you assess in the entire process.
How To Maintain Your Solar Panels
The maintenance of solar panels is a very easy process that can be performed by anyone. This process plays an important role in the efficiency and productivity of solar panels. Without regular cleaning, the amount of sunlight absorbed by the panels can be drastically reduced. This can lead to a decrease in the amount of energy produced, which could result in higher electricity bills for homeowners that opt for an on-grid or hybrid system.
- There are some couple of rules that you should take into account when cleaning your solar panels:
- Periodically check the layer of dirt on the solar panels.
- Never step on the solar panels or the wires near them.
- Always check the temperature of the solar panels and do not clean them when they are hot.
- Never use sharp objects to clean the solar panels.
If you already have solar panels or you just want to find out step-by-step how to maintain them or what tools you need, access the complete guide on how to clean solar panels from [farmerdb].
Conclusion:
Installing solar panels on your house’s roof is a great way to reduce your electricity bills and be more responsible for the environment. Through them, you can help the environment on a small scale by producing green electricity.
There are several options on the market, which suit all types of budgets, so all you have to do is to check which one suits you best.
