How to Choose the Right Commercial Solar Company for Long-Term Savings

Yes. Advanced Green Technologies can help you determine which type of system is best for your high wind zone risks.

Yes. Advanced Green Technologies can help you determine which type of PV system is best for your hail zone risks.

The typical components of a grid-tied PV system include PV modules, an inverter, associated wiring, a combiner box, safety disconnecting switches, and an interconnecting circuit breaker to tie the PV system to the existing electrical system. The PV module is the basis of the system. The number of PV modules determines the amount of power that will be produced by the system. An array is the arrangement of numerous PV modules. The modules are connected together in series to form groups called strings. String size, the number of modules connected together in series, is used to determine the DC voltage. The combiner box is used to take the paralleled strings and combine them into a single output to send to the inverter. The inverter’s function is converting the DC power, or Direct Current, into usable AC power, or Alternating Current. An inverter’s name plate rating is determined by the amount of power that it is able to output. A 5kW inverter is able to output a maximum of 5,000 W.

The word itself helps to explain how photovoltaic technologies work. The word has two parts: photo, meaning light, and volt, a unit of measurement for electricity. . Thus photovoltaic literally means light-electricity.

Grid-tied inverters are designed to work only while they detect a clean, stable signal from the existing utility grid. Once grid power drops outside of the inverter’s parameters, the inverter shuts down. If you need a PV system that works during a power outage, AGT can help you with that also.

After a snow storm, when the sun comes out, the solar radiation penetrates the snow and heats up the modules melting the snow from the bottom up. The melting at the surface of the module allows the snow to slide off. Additionally, if the modules are mounted at an angle, gravity will assist.

This means that your utility company will give you the same retail rate for electricity that you “sell back” to the utility. Every utility will have different rules for this, but the basic premise is that they will buy electricity from you at the same rate that you buy electricity from them.

These are generally deployed on ground-mounted utility-scale farms and are designed to follow the sun’s path during the day and through the different seasons to capture the maximum amount of sun. A tracker increases the annual production of a PV system at the cost of additional system complexity.

Solar electricity is the conversion of sunlight directly into electricity. Solar energy is possible whenever sunlight is available, but more electricity is produced with more intense and direct sunlight.

The PV cells themselves will work indefinitely and produce electricity as long as they have contact with sunlight. Manufacturers provide a twenty five year warranties on most products, however system owners report their systems continue production past the determined twenty five year lifespan.

Unlike traditional power generation sources, PV/solar produces electricity using a clean, renewable source—the sun. It does so without creating noise, emitting pollutants that cause climate change, smog, acid rain, or polluting our water resources. Even when the emissions related to solar cell manufacturing are counted, photovoltaics produce less than 15% of the carbon dioxide from a conventional coal-fired power plant. In fact, using solar electricity to power a million homes would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4.3 million tons per year, the equivalent of removing 850,000 cars from the road (Source: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Your system should go years, even decades, without problems. We recommend that the installer conduct a system check once a year, just to ensure everything is performing as it should. Otherwise, you can clean the modules two or three times a year with water to rid them of dust and debris. If your system includes batteries, they may need to be replaced every five to ten years.

It is important to value a solar electric systems contribution to providing you electricity and understanding that a solar installation does not need to cover all your electricity demands to be a great asset. An average residential system installation could reduce your electric bill by up to one-half. A system that supplies all of your energy needs is possible, but typically the most cost-effective installation will cut your electricity by forty to fifty percent.

No. A PV system requires sunlight to produce power. At night, you draw power from your utility.

If you have any questions we did not answer, please contact us today and we will be happy to help you. We have friendly solar experts standing by ready to help.