Lower your energy expense is something that many people would like to do. With a solar installation, you may be able to reduce your costs and your carbon footprint for a very reasonable amount of money. Hiring a solar energy installation company to assess your current energy needs and how these systems can reduce it is the first step to giving you some energy independence.

Solar Assessments

When you are considering a solar installation in your home, the first thing you need is to have a solar company come and assess your home and your current energy usages to determine what system will work best in your situation. If you are looking to cut the power coming in from the grid completely, you will need a large system and find ways to reduce your home's power requirements. 

Often solar systems in large homes are used to offset the cost of electricity and not completely replace it but talk to the company that is evaluating your home to see how much power can be generated from solar in your location and what the cost of a system that large will be.

Solar Installation

Once the solar installation company has determined the best setup for your home, they will begin the installation process. Often the panels are mounted on the roof of your home. Still, if you have a large garage or other building that is better-oriented to collect the sun, it might be better to put the panels there and run the wiring underground to the solar management system in the house. 

The solar management system will converter the DC power from the panels to AC power to be used in your home and manage the storage system, charging the batteries when they need it and channeling extra electricity back to the power grid to sell the excess energy to them. In some situations, you can sell enough energy back on sunny days that you can offset your costs for electricity and nearly balance out the cost over the year. 

Solar Tracking 

If you have space and want to spend the money, you can have your solar panel installation put on a mount that will move throughout the day and track the sun to keep the panels focused on the sun for the best possible efficiency. In homes that are entirely solar and not connected to the power grid, tracking the sun to get as much solar collection as possible is important.

These tracking systems do require a large open view of the sky, but if you have the space, it can increase the potential of your system significantly.