Solar Grid Tie

The most cost effective way to get solar energy to your home or business.

With a Vegas Electric solar grid-tie solution your home or business will receive power from two sources: solar when the sun is shining and the utility grid when it’s cloudy and at night.

This solution is designed to offset daytime electrical use which, depending on your household occupancy and lifestyle, can significantly lower your energy costs and carbon consumption.

A solar-grid tie may be the right solution for you if: your home or business has daytime occupancy (energy usage); your home is in a community that offers a net metering policy (credit for solar energy delivered to the grid); AND there is space to mount solar panels on the roof or ground.

Solar Grid Tied Benefits

Lowest cost and shortest payback - a grid-tie solution requires less equipment than storage and off-grid systems so the investment cost is much lower. By offsetting up to 40% of annual energy costs, payback periods are usually under 5 years.

Additional cost offset with net metering - some housing areas in Roatan have a net metering policy that credits solar system owners for energy delivered to the private electrical grid. In these communities, solar system owners can offset up to 90% of annual electrical costs.

Contribution to community sustainability - the production of green energy reduces the use of fossil fuels and carbon emissions on the island, leading to a cleaner, greener and more sustainable Roatan.

How Solar Grid-Tied Works:

1. Solar panels capture the sunlight and turn it into direct (DC) current electricity. The DC current is sent to the inverter.

2. The inverter converts DC current to alternating (AC) current, which is the form of electrical energy required by most appliances.

3. AC current flows from the service panel to the household load. Solar energy production greater than the household load will be sent through the bi-directional meter to the utility grid.

4. The household electrical load receives both solar and grid power to meet the energy needs. The transition is seamless and undetectable to the occupants.

5. The bi-directional meter measures all the energy the home uses both from the utility grid and from the solar panels.

6. The utility grid provides energy during nighttime hours (or when there is cloud cover). During daylight hours, when the solar production is greater than what is required by the load, the utility grid will receive the excess energy.

Optional: real time and historical monitoring system of solar production and energy usage is available for additional purchase.

Solar Grid Tied Cost Benefit Calculator

The systems presented are intended as examples to provide customer insight into estimated financial benefits and Vegas Electric price ranges. While we design solar solutions to fit the specific needs of each customer, these sizes can serve as a basis for budgeting purposes.

Monthly usage expressed in kilowatt hours can be compared to monthly usage on electrical bills.
Monthly cost of electrical bill expressed in USD calculated at $0.37/kwh.
Annual savings are based on 40% of energy usage during daylight hours.
System costs vary based on roof/mounting type and selection of optional real time monitoring system.

Things to Know

If the utility grid experiences a power outage the grid-tied solar system will also shut down. This is a safety feature to prevent energy from the solar system feeding into the grid and potentially harming a utility worker. If backup power is important to you, the grid interactive system should be considered.

For remote locations, where access to the utility grid is not feasible, off-grid solutions that rely on batteries and alternative energy sources should be considered.

Solar grid-tie is a great entry point for your first solar system. It can be scaled and upgraded in the future to accommodate changing needs or to add storage. Learn more about these options with a Grid Interactive solutions.