Solar water heating systems use the sun’s energy to heat the water in your home. Switching to one will lead to a reduction of your domestic carbon footprint as well as a reduction in your annual energy bills. Solar photovoltaic panels – or PV for short – produce electricity when the sun shines on them. You can use this electricity in the home to run appliances, and any that you don’t use can be sold back to the grid. Solar photovoltaic panels (solar PV) can be mounted on a roof, or any other unshaded spot. When the sun shines on them, they produce low voltage direct current electricity. A device called an inverter converts this into mains voltage alternating current which can be fed directly into your home’s electricity circuit. If you are at home using electricity at the time, you can use your own solar electricity instead of buying it from your energy supplier. If you aren’t using electricity at the time, your generation will be exported back to the grid to be used by someone else – you can get paid for this if you claim Feed-in Tariff payments. And If you’re using electricity but the sun isn’t shining, then you just get your electricity from your supplier in the normal way. All this happens automatically – you don’t need to control the panels or the inverter. Some people also buy a battery system to store electricity when the sun is shining and they’re not at home. They can then use this electricity when they get home, and when the panels are no longer generating. You don’t need to do this to make a solar system work. It doesn’t actually make the system more efficient, but it can increase the amount you save on your electricity bills. Solar Panel