Grid-Tied Systems

Overview

For someone interested in reducing your monthly electricity bill a Grid-Tied System might be the answer for you. Grid-Tied systems work by supplementing the Eskom feed.

In recent years Grid-Tied systems have become more popular. In Europe for example you as a system owner can push back excess power into the grid to earn tokens for power usage and earn a return in investment in the long term.

In South-Africa we are however not allowed to do this yet but we are still able to reduce your electricity usage. The system provides electricity during the day and Eskom power is only used when the load exceeds the power that can be generated by the system. This means you use less power from Eskom and thus reduce your bill.

How does a Grid-Tied System work?

A Grid-Tied system works by supplementing the Eskom feed. Power generated by the solar panels is used to provide power to the load. If the load exceeds the power that can be provided by the system Eskom is used to supplement the remaining power needed.

The inverter is used to convert the DC power from the solar panels to AC power. A Grid-Tied system will NOT work when Eskom is off because the systems needs Eskom to function.

There will also be no backup if the power is out because normally no batteries are used in these kind of systems.

If a generator is available it can be used to start when the power goes out to take Eskom’s place in the system. If this is the case the system will still work normally.

Reduce Electricity Cost

Component Overview

Inverters

An Inverter is needed to convert DC power from the solar panels to AC power in order for the system to provide electricity.

We use the following brands for Grid-Tied Systems:

  • Fronius

  • Huawei

  • SolarEdge

PV Solar Modules

We use the following brands for Solar Hybrid Systems:

  • Canadian Solar

  • JA Solar

  • BWD Solar

  • Peimar Solar

Solar Panels are used to convert power from the sun to electricity and provide the inverter with electricity for the system to work.