How Solar Works

Photovoltaic solar systems use sunlight to generate electricity. The potential is huge – with current photovoltaic technology we could supply all U.S. electrical needs by covering only one third of one percent of our country´s land area in modules. There are no moving parts, so once installed they deliver energy as long as the sun shines.

When your system produces electricity, it feeds the power to your existing electrical panel, which then distributes the solar power (and any utility power needed) to your load center in a normal manner. If you have a so-called "net metering" agreement with your local electric utility, any excess power generated by your system is sent back to the utility. When you generate more power than you need, your electric meter spins backwards and you are only charged for the net energy you consume. Any excess production is tracked and you are provided with credits. Therefore when you need to use power from the utility company, for instance during the night when your solar system is not producing power, you would get your power from the utility company but your credits would be applied before actually paying for the power consumed.

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How Solar Works