What are the Benefits of Grid-Tied Inverter Solar Installations?
Grid-tied inverter solar installations have many benefits, such as:
- Reducing your energy bills: By generating your own electricity, you can reduce the amount of electricity you buy from the grid, and save money on your energy bills. According to UKPower, you can save up to £695 a year by connecting your solar system to the grid.
- Earning money from the grid: By exporting any surplus electricity you generate to the grid, you can earn money from the government’s Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) scheme, which pays you a fixed amount of money for each kWh of electricity you export. The SEG rate varies depending on your supplier and the time of day, but you can expect to earn around 4p/kWh on average.
- Reducing your carbon footprint: By using solar energy, you can reduce your dependence on fossil fuels and lower your greenhouse gas emissions. According to Plug In Solar, a 1kW grid-tied inverter solar installation can save up to 0.5 tonnes of CO2 per year.
- Increasing your property value: By installing solar panels, you can increase the attractiveness and value of your property, as solar energy is seen as a desirable and sustainable feature by potential buyers.
How to Choose the Right Size of Grid-Tied Inverter Solar Installation?
The size of your grid-tied inverter solar installation depends on several factors, such as:
- Your electricity consumption: The more electricity you use, the larger the solar system you need to meet your demand. You can estimate your electricity consumption by looking at your energy bills or using an online calculator.
- Your roof size and orientation: The larger and more south-facing your roof is, the more solar panels you can fit and the more electricity you can generate. You can measure your roof size and orientation using a tape measure and a compass, or use an online tool.
- Your budget: The larger the solar system, the higher the upfront cost. However, you also need to consider the long-term savings and benefits of solar energy, such as lower energy bills, government incentives, and environmental impact.
To find the most affordable size of grid-tied inverter solar installation for your situation, you need to compare the cost and performance of different options. You can use online calculators or consult with professional installers to get quotes and estimates.
What is a Grid-Tied Inverter Solar Installation?
A grid-tied inverter solar installation is a type of solar system that connects to the National Grid and allows you to use the electricity generated by your solar panels as well as the electricity supplied by your utility company. This way, you can reduce your reliance on fossil fuels and save money on your energy bills.
A grid-tied inverter solar installation consists of two main components:
- Solar panels: These are the devices that capture the sunlight and convert it into direct current (DC) electricity.
- Inverter: This is the device that converts the DC electricity from the solar panels into alternating current (AC) electricity that is compatible with the grid and your appliances.
Best Option for grid tied.
Being grid tied means that you can only save what you use. This effects the return on your investment. If you “go big” you may find that you have a big cost and have a little return. This is generally due to the fact that most of power is in the evening, generally people are at work during the day, so they would not use the power they produced.
The best production and yield is somewhere between base load ( the power your house uses all the time) and your weekend peak load, this is generally around 1-2.5kWh. The regular use is near to 300-750W, its kettles, microwaves and hovers that cause a peak, but this is generally for short periods of time.
Remember a Kwh is the power over an hour, so if you have 10kw load for 2 minutes, that’s 10000/60 = 166.67kWm (minute) or 333kWh.
The inverter power ( say) 1.5kw, can produce only 1.5Kw, the load being 8.5Kw would be drawn from the gird. You would take 283.33kWh from the grid, 49.67kWh would be saved from the solar, if you are making full power. however if you have normal loads at home, if your solar is making 80% power from 1.5Kw inverter you will cover loads(use) up to 1.2kWh
Load to know
You do need to work out the general load of your home, if you have a smart meter, just take a look at “energy now” this will show the “load” you are putting on the grid. You should take a look a few times a day, when people are around and between the times of 09:30 and 16:00 as you can have solar power within these times with grid tied inverters.
You should get two figures, the base and the peak. or the low and high, depending on the high and how often they appear high, will depend on the inverter that you need.
You ideally want to place the inverter where it will meet you base load and the regular highs, not so much short term highs that are far apart.
We will say the figure is 700W,
Therefore a 1000w inverter would meet your needs
Solar power is a bit of a wet fish at times, so we need to add 35% to the figure to give you head room. We do want to keep the array ( solar panel numbers) as small as we can, but this has an effect on winter production. so it is a catch 22.
4 sun hours is a average to use for the year in terms of production. We then look at panels and performance, so 2 435w solar panels is 870w.
870*4 -35%= 2.62Kwh a day. at 0.29p that’s 65 pence a day or around £180 per year. You do make more but we keep the numbers a little lower and find that we are usually very accurate.
lets add another panel and this turns into £270 per year… this means that within the year, you just paid for the panels. the following year, you would have paid for the inverter too…
BUT you do only save, what you use and from what you make.
Scaling up does NOT mean a faster return and quicker to actually saving money. It comes to a point where Grid tied is not effective unless you have SEG, which is still not worth the extra costs and prolongs the return. it is better to go for a hybrid or grid attached system.
No responses yet