Accreditations & License

Solar Electric Systems Information

Solar Electric PV Panels

PV Modules

The PV (Photovoltaic) module or panel is the heart of the solar electric system, capturing sunlight and turning it into usable electricity. Today most residential or commercial scale modules are 125-200 watts each. We prefer to use Evergreen Solar modules www.evergreensolar.com as they are a purist solar company, not an oil or electronics company with a solar division. Evergreen Solar modules are manufactured in the United States and Germany in state of the art facilities that result in the smallest carbon footprint and fastest energy payback of any module currently produced.


Solar Modules can also be integrated into the building facade such as PV shingles or metal roof laminates manufactured by Uni-Solar www.uni-solar.com. This can be a viable option in communities with covenants against roof mounted panels or historic districts. Building integrated solutions are becoming more available and Schott www.us.schott.com has developed thin film building integrated glass modules that can be incorporated into the walls or roof of a residential or commercial project.


There are 2 types of photovoltaic systems - Utility Intertied or Stand Alone Systems.


Grid or Utility Intertied Solar Systems

In our area most grid tied systems separately meter incoming and outgoing power. Through a partnership with NC Green Power and avoided costs from your utility you can sell electricity that you provide to the grid at 1½ -2 times as much as you purchase it for. Please see NC GreenPower www.ncgreenpower.org and your local utility for program specifics.


We typically use SMA Inverters for grid tied applications www.sma-america.com. They are produced in many sizes for different applications and have a proven track record in the field. SMA also offers options for web based data logging capabilities with remote monitoring.

Grid tied systems will not provide power to the house or business if the utility power is out. Batteries are necessary to provide power during a utility power failure.


Battery Based Solar Systems

There are 2 types of battery based systems - grid tied with back up and stand alone. In a grid tied system with back up the critical loads wished to be backed up are run to a smaller sub panel. The batteries are sized to only back up the critical loads for a predetermined amount of time, (while the grid is down) the rest of the time they are at full charge from the grid awaiting use.


In a stand alone system all loads to be used must be identified to properly size the battery bank. In this type system the batteries are the only source of energy to the loads so it must be able to back up the system for several days when the sun is not shining.


We typically use Outback Power www.outbackpower.com for battery based inverters, chargers and balance of system components. For small to medium battery systems we recommend Surrette Solar Batteries www.surrette.com, for larger systems Solar One Batteries www.hupsolarone.com are recommended.


All of our solar electric systems are custom designed for each project and its particular needs, please contact us for more specifics.