| The sun provides all of the energy you could ever | | | | your own electricity at night or during those |
| possibly need and home solar power systems | | | | cloudy days without purchasing electricity from |
| provide the means to capture that energy and | | | | the power company. If you do need to buy |
| use it effectively to power your home with clean | | | | power from the electric company, you would be |
| but cheap, renewable electricity. When setting up | | | | able to do so during off-peak hours when |
| your system, you will have to consider three | | | | electricity is the cheapest. |
| options. You will either be tied in to your local | | | | The final option for your home solar power |
| municipal power grid, tied into the grid with a | | | | system is to be completely off the grid and not |
| battery backup in place, or completely off the | | | | connected to the local electric company at all. This |
| grid. This article is going to explain each of these | | | | option is most common in areas where it is |
| options a bit further. | | | | difficult or very expensive to run power lines to |
| When your solar photovoltaic system is tied into | | | | your property. In this situation, you would want to |
| the grid, you will be using electricity from your | | | | be certain that you have enough solar panels and |
| local electric company during times when there is | | | | a large enough battery pack so that you will not |
| not enough sunlight to power your home. When | | | | have to worry about running out of power but |
| the sun goes down or on a very cloudy day | | | | this option does give you the freedom of not |
| when your system is not running at peak | | | | being dependent on anyone else for your energy |
| capacity, you would be getting at least some of | | | | needs. |
| your electricity from the power company. On a | | | | Those are your main options but be sure to |
| bright, sunny day when your system is producing | | | | check into any government programs that may |
| more electricity than your house is using, you | | | | be available in your area for home solar power |
| would be feeding power back into the grid. When | | | | systems that tie into the grid. There may be |
| this happens your meter will be spinning in reverse | | | | special rebates and tax credits available to grid tie |
| and your local electric company will be buying | | | | systems so it is important to do your due |
| electricity from you. | | | | diligence before deciding on the type of solar |
| A grid tie system with battery backup is very | | | | setup you are going to choose for your home. |
| similar to the setup we just discussed but having | | | | You do not want to miss out on any benefits for |
| a battery backup allows you to continue using | | | | which you may be eligible. |