solar energy

[pauly]

Does solar power get feed back into the grid ? Why does the power co. send you a check ? If if it feeds to your neighbor how does the power meter know which is from you or the power co. ? Help needed to settle argument.....

[Sensei]

Inverter should be after electricity meter..

When solar energy is produced, energy goes to inverter, and is used by electric devices.

But when there is no sunny day, or night, obviously solar energy is unavailable, and used is energy from power station.

If you're outside of home whole day, and returning at night, obviously you're mostly using power station energy, not solar energy.

There is needed storage for solar energy, so whole sunny day it'll be loaded, and then used at night.

Edited May 13, 2014 by Sensei

[swansont]

It depends on the local regulation, but there are areas where this is done. The meter can see which direction the power is flowing, and you get paid for whatever excess you produce and feed into the grid.

[Spyman]

If you want to sell or feed back solar energy to the power company then you need special equipment to convert the energy and adapt to their grid, this probably also includes a new power meter which can differentiate between what you consume and produce.

 

Neither your neighbor nor you, on the other hand, has any way to distinguish from were the delivered energy from the power grid comes.

Edited May 13, 2014 by Spyman

[pauly]

thanks for the help. well i was partly wrong. I do remeber hearing of a meter turning backwards... true or not; not sure. Just dont believe gov. does anything that gives you money...

[Phi for All]

thanks for the help. well i was partly wrong. I do remeber hearing of a meter turning backwards... true or not; not sure. Just dont believe gov. does anything that gives you money...

 

The meter will run backwards if you're selling more electricity back to your utility than you're using. And most likely your utility company is investor-owned, so it's not the government anymore (your municipality chose to sell off it's rights to a publicly owned system), just a government regulated system.

 

Right now, they're happy to help people reduce their consumption through the use of solar and other efficiency upgrades. The more they can help you reduce your demand-side needs, the less likely they'll have to increase the supply-side. Nobody wants them to build more power plants.

[Danijel Gorupec]

Right now, they're happy to help people reduce their consumption through the use of solar and other efficiency upgrades. The more they can help you reduce your demand-side needs, the less likely they'll have to increase the supply-side. Nobody wants them to build more power plants.

 

Does it mean that in the USA people often produce power from solar, and then use it in their own homes in order to decrease consumption from the grid? Swansont also said something like that... Does it mean that the home produced solar power in the USA is not significantly subsidized if it is sold to the grid?

 

Maybe those questions sound silly to you, but in my country you always sell everything you produce (because it is heavily subsidized) and then you buy back all the energy you need by a cheaper price. At least that was the situation not that long time ago, but I am not 100% sure if it is still the same.

[Phi for All]

 

Does it mean that in the USA people often produce power from solar, and then use it in their own homes in order to decrease consumption from the grid? Swansont also said something like that... Does it mean that the home produced solar power in the USA is not significantly subsidized if it is sold to the grid?

 

Maybe those questions sound silly to you, but in my country you always sell everything you produce (because it is heavily subsidized) and then you buy back all the energy you need by a cheaper price. At least that was the situation not that long time ago, but I am not 100% sure if it is still the same.

 

There are incentives/subsidies for reducing consumption, through state Public Utility Commissions. It's usually in the form of a rebate to help install solar or an energy efficient HVAC system or more efficient lighting.

 

Demand-side management is an ongoing effort, and there are a LOT of products out there designed for more efficient electrical use. The US has a lot of commercial buildings with up-to-date computer and security systems, but they're using lighting and HVAC systems from the Reagan 80s when they removed Jimmy Carter's solar panels from the White House.