Solar power means using energy from the sun to produce electricity. These pages show how that energy is turned into electricity, the components needed and various possible types of systems.

How it works

Part 1 - From the sun to the panels

Part 2 - From the panels to the inverter (and an explanation of AC and DC electricity!)

Types of systems

Solar power systems can be configured in a variety of ways to meet different needs. The following are the most common configurations.

• Grid-tied (or grid dependent or net metering) - feeding power to the grid and using power from the grid, paying for only the difference
• Solar backup (or grid interactive) - getting power from the grid with solar power as a backup
• Off-grid - getting power from solar power with an optional generator as backup
• Feed-in tarriff (or solar premium or standard offer program) - selling power to the grid exclusively/being a mini-power utility
• RV solar - powering a recreational vehicle (RV) or motorhome with solar power

  Harvey's motorhome system using Harbor Freight kit

  NEW! Full off-grid system on motorhome

• Arnprior Solar Farm - a solar farm is a collection of a huge number of solar panels, typically for feeding power to the power grid. This Arnprior solar farm consists of 312,000 solar panels.

Building your own components

You can make your own solar cells using copper but they don't give enough power to be useful. They are a fun experiment though.

Sample installed systems

Here's a small sample of solar power systems I helped install with Ottawa Solar Power.

Just another day installing solar power in the Ottawa, Ontario area...

... but then, not all days are snowy.