A common question when dealing with solar panels is, what happens when the panels generate more electricity than your household consumes? Although solar panels offer a fantastic route to harnessing renewable energy, they can be tricky to deal with when you don’t know what will happen with the excess energy.
For a better understanding, here’s a look at what happens to the extra energy produced by solar panels.
1. Energy Storage for Later Use
One of the common techniques used to preserve excess solar energy is storing it in batteries. Thanks to solar batteries, homeowners can save surplus electricity generated during the day and use it at night or during cloudy periods when the panels are not producing as much energy.
Solar batteries can be used as home storage systems that serve as a backup for when the panels aren’t generating power. Hence, there’s no power wastage, and you have a source to which you can fall back in times of need. It’s also a great way to save up on electric bills.
2. Export to the Grid
Another way to gauge the excess energy produced by solar panels installed by The Solar Co, is through grid export. This is an alternative used when battery storage systems aren’t in place. Although you won’t get to store the electricity for later, you’re still preventing wastage by sending it back to the electricity grid.
However, there are still benefits that come with sending electricity to the grid. Firstly, there are financial incentives that UK homeowners can earn through schemes and tariffs that pay based on the amount of electricity fed to the grid. The rate does differ according to location and the time the energy is exported.
Net metering is also another scheme that helps homeowners benefit from sending electricity to the grid. In this case, your utility company tracks how much energy you export and imports and charges you only for the difference.
Therefore, if you end up producing more electricity than you use over a billing period, you could end up with a credit on your account, reducing your future electricity bills.
3. Community Sharing
There are also innovative solutions that improve how homeowners can share or sell their excess energy within their community.
For instance, some regions allow homeowners to participate in Virtual Power Plants. It’s a gateway enabling the community to pool together stored energy to create a larger, community-based power source. The aggregated energy is also one that can be sold back to the grid or used within the community. Therefore, there are financial rewards coupled with better energy stability.
Also, energy-sharing schemes have been set up to allow community members to buy and sell excess solar energy directly from one another. You can call it a form of peer-to-peer market where energy is redirected into better distribution methods and applications.
Conclusion
It’s pretty clear now that the excess electricity supplied by solar panels doesn’t have to go to waste. There are now better ways to utilise that extra energy and ensure it’s redistributed effectively. Combining solar battery systems with a supply system to the electric grid means that homeowners no longer need to wonder about what happens to excess solar energy.
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