This is the system of choice for those who are looking for the solar power system with the shortest payback and therefore a great return on investment. Grid-tied solar system is also the ideal starting point for you to make a positive contribution to the environment while doing your bit towards steering this beautiful country of ours back towards the clean, green and sustainable future that we want to be known for.
If your main motivation is achieving maximum financial benefit then the key is to match the system energy output to the daytime power requirements of the household. There are a number of ways to shift some of the night-time power consumption to daytime in order to maximize the solar self-consumption. For example many appliances such as dish washers and washing machines and driers have timers built in which can be used to delay their start time until the sun is up. Timers or power diverters can also be installed to re-heat the hot water cylinder when to sun is up, which is commonly the largest energy consumer in a residential household.
With a grid-tied solar system you maintain your connection to the national power grid and your relationship with your power company. However, rather than being a consumer only, you also become a power generator and can expect to get paid for any power that you are not using yourself but are returning to the grid.
Your power company will install a new meter which can record both energy imported from the grid and exported to the grid. While it is great to receive some benefit from exported energy, you won’t get rich from it. The power company is likely to reward you around 8 Cents per unit of energy that you are sending back their way. If you were to use that same unit yourself you would save typically around 25 – 30 Cents which is the variable component on your power bill.
With a grid-tied solar power system you have the ability to tailor your own system depending on your own circumstances and motivation for going solar! You can even add batteries for storing your excess solar power at a later stage.
Because this type of system is tied to the grid it does not offer any backup or resilience during a power cut. If that is part of your motivation then you need to look at some of our other options such as Hybrid Solar Power Systems or Off-Grid Solar power Systems
