AC (Alternating Current) Power: This is the form of electric power that is delivered to your home by the utility company and comes out of the electrical outlets in your home. It powers your lights, and appliances.
DC (Direct Current) Power: This is the form of electric power produced by solar electric panels when sunlight shines on them. Your inverter converts this type of power to AC power so you can use solar energy to power your home and business.
Inverter: A device that converts the DC power captured by your solar system into AC power that can be used to in your home.
Grid: This is the infrastructure made of electrical wires, transformers, etc that a utility company builds and maintains that allows power to travel from a power plant to your home and business. When you install solar you become a power producer and we connect your solar system to the grid. That way any energy your solar system produces that you do not use immediately can travel to the grid to be used by someone else who needs energy. Whenever you need more electricity in your home and business than your solar system is producing at a given moment, you connect to other power sources through the grid.
Kilowatt (kW): A measurement of power (one thousand watts), the rate at which energy is produced or consumed. The size of a solar system is often measured in kW and is an indication of the peak capacity of the solar system. Different sized systems have the potential to produce different amounts of Kilowatts at any given time.
Kilowatt-hour (kWh): This is a measurement of energy, the amount of power that is produced or used over time. Your utility company uses this unit of measurement to calculate your monthly bill. The amount your electric bill will go down after you install solar depends on how many Kilowatt-hours your solar panels produce.
Solar companies use this unit of measurement to figure out how large your solar electric system needs to be once you factor in shading, orientation, and other site specific factors that affect the performance of your solar panels. This is the number that you should pay attention to when you look at the estimates from different solar companies, because you can put the same panels in different places or orientations on a roof and produce a different amount of Kilowatt-hours.
Photovoltaic (PV) System: This is the technical term for solar electric panels. This is what gets in installed on your roof to convert sunlight directly into electricity.
Volt (V): A measurement of electrical potential. This can be thought of as the force that drives electrical current. The regular electrical outlets you plug devices into in your home in the United States “push” electricity out of the outlet at 120 volts. Electric driers and level 2 electric vehicle charging outlets “push” power out at 240 volts.
When it comes to solar, knowledge is power. For more information, feel free to email us or give us a call at (415) 697-1547.