What's Inside?
Incentives & Rebates
Several states now offer cash rebates to home owners who install solar electric systems on their homes. These cash rebates generally cover 15 to 20% of the upfront cost of the system. It's as simple as securing your rebate amount with a reservation, and upon completion of your system installation, the state will mail you a check for your rebate.
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How Does Solar Work
Solar is simply, elegant technology that is virtually maintenance-free due to the fact that it has no moving parts. The energy source -- sunlight -- is reliable, locally available, and always free.
A solar electrical system is composed of just a few major components - photovoltaic (PV) panels (the generator of electricity) and an inverter (a power conditioning unit). With a grid-tied solar electric system, your system is connected to the local utility grid, which serves as the energy storage and backup for the solar power you generate.
During the day when the sun is shinning, your PV panels are generating electricity, and if your not home to consume the electricity, it is fed through the meter to the utility grid and your meter actually spins backward, banking a credit for you.
Later in the evening when you return home, you use electricity from the utility grid and your meter spins forward utilizing the credit you accrued during the day. The utility company is required to credit you for the amount of electricity your system contributes to the grid at the retail value of the electricity at the time it was generated. By properly sizing your solar system to cover your electricity usage, you can eliminate your electric bill and you won't have to pay an electric bill again for the life of the system.
Diagram shows how a residential solar electric system is connected to the utility grid
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