Grid Tied Solar Power Systems

Grid tied solar power systems connect your home or business directly to the utility grid. This allows the extra energy you make to be stored with Central Maine Power or another utility company. Your electric meter actually turns backwards!

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These systems eliminate the use of battery storage, which greatly reduces the overall cost of your investment. They also allow you to draw energy from the grid at night or during “high use” times, such as holidays or when relatives and friends are visiting.

A critical consideration in designing your system is to ensure that it is not oversized.  In Maine, you are compensated by credit for the excess electricity you produce.  In other words, if your solar electric system produces more energy than you need, you get a credit for the amount of electricity your solar panels feed back into the grid.

Central Maine Power currently gives people 12 months to use up their excess electricity credits.  This means that the extra energy your solar panels produce during the summer can be used to pay your electric bills in the winter when there is less sunlight.

In other words, when the sun is shining and you are using the electricity, it’s coming straight from the solar panels. When the sun is shining and you are not using all the electricity, your neighbor is using the solar power from your solar panels and you are building up credit with the utility company. Then, when the sun isn’t shining and you are using power, it’s being pulled straight from the grid and is paid for from your built-up credit.

In addition, there is a 30% federal tax credit given for the entire cost of your grid-tied solar electric system, as well as a $2,000 cash rebate from the state of Maine.

The risk in a solar power system is that when the utility goes down from a big storm, so does your power. Nevertheless, you can secure your energy needs by adding back-up battery storage or a back up generator to your grid tied solar power system.

See Grid Tied Solar Power Installations

 
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