Solar Photovoltaic Cells harness the energy of the sun and convert in into electricity.

Solar panels produce an output of DC electricity. The cable then runs  through a DC isolator to an inverter. This does a number of things, but its principal task is to convert the supply to AC electricity - the type used in your home.

From here the cable runs through an AC isolator and a FiTS meter, then onto your normal household distribution board (fuseboard). Switching from solar power to mains power is automatic and seamless.

A typical solar PV system would generate between 2 and 4kw of electricity. Of course, the bigger the array the more you generate and the bigger your income.

In theory, a 3.9kW system could produce enough electricity to supply an average household for a year.

In reality it's not practical to depend entirely on your own electricity generation, you would need a large bank of batteries, which are both polluting and expensive, to cover the times when the solar system isn't generating electricity, such as at night time. To cover times when consumption is high you would have to overproduce at other times.

The solution is to sell over production back to the National Grid and utilise what you need from your own supply when it's available.

Using this alone it would produce savings of a few hundred pounds a year and the system would take decades to repay, an may never cover it's costs.
This all changed with FiTS (Feed in Tariff Scheme), which means that even an aaverage household with a 2.5 Kw system could be looking at a total income and savings of around £1,000.00 per year. To learn more, go to the   What is FiTS? page