Solar Inverter Insights: This ELI5 series aims to enlighten the everyday reader about solar energy. Given that it's a relatively new technology, many are unfamiliar with its intricate details. That's why we break down complex terms into easy-to-understand language.
Solar Inverter
In simple terms, a solar inverter converts your solar panels' direct current (DC) electricity into the alternating current (AC) electricity your house consumes. Assume an electric current to be like a tube pumped full of air. DC electricity will be something like pumping air from only one side of the tube. On the other hand, AC electricity will be like breathing that air in and out of a tube.
So from this, we conclude that DC electricity moves in one direction while AC electricity moves back and forth many times. A solar panel inverter makes it possible for your home to use the electricity generated by your solar panels.
The Working
Without a solar power inverter, your home and your solar panels wouldn't be able to communicate with each other. The process follows this pattern:
- Sunlight falls on the solar panels, and solar energy is trapped in the panels.
- The trapped energy is converted into DC electricity.
- This DC electricity is sent to the inverter.
- The solar inverter transforms DC electricity into AC electricity.
- This AC electricity is relayed to your home's electrical panel, which distributes the electricity as per need.
Inverters use transistors which are very small devices capable of changing DC to AC. They act like fast switches in the inverter. You can turn them on or off by changing their orientation and arranging them in a specific pattern.
Ultimately, this changes the direction of the flow of electricity. It may sound simple because we have turned this complex process into something basic so that anyone can understand it. It is also one of the most important processes of solar power generation.
Importance Of Alternating Current
To tell you the importance of AC electricity, we will have to back 150 years. This was the period of the “War of the Currents.” This is because there was a major competition between geniuses such as Nikola Tesla, George Westinghouse, and Thomas Edison to determine if homes could use AC or DC electricity.
Edison is credited with the development of DC. At first, this was used in U.S. homes. So why was there a shift to AC electricity? Well, the problem was that it was near impossible to change the voltage of DC. (For your information, assume voltage is something like the pressure of electricity.)
Voltage changes are needed to reduce electricity losses when sending power over long distances, like from the grid to homes. After the development of DC, transformers were developed to mitigate energy losses. A transformer is simply a box of iron wrapped with wires. The function of transformers is to change electricity from low voltage to high or from high voltage to low voltage.
Low voltage makes sense since it is safer in homes, but why high voltage? High voltages are needed when transferring huge amounts of electricity over a long distance. High voltages prevent major energy losses. This way, AC electricity became popular with Tesla and Westinghouse and became the standard used in all American homes.
Other Functions Of A Solar Inverter
There are other tasks that a solar inverter can perform depending on your home’s needs:
- In power outages, it does not allow your solar panels to send power to the grid.
- It controls and monitors the transfer of electricity to and from your solar batteries.
- It manages the sharing of electricity between your home and the electricity grid.
The Need For A Solar Inverter
The need is more like a necessity, as without a solar inverter, you cannot use solar panels to power your home. You may be using solar panels to provide electricity to some parts of your home, or you may go for powering the whole home, but you will at least need one solar panel inverter to do all this.