Generating power for your home with alternative energy systems can seem pretty daunting if you don’t know how the system works. There are several different types of power systems that you can use to power your place. Most of them work in a similar way, as the sun shines on the solar panels, which are then converted into electricity, or the wind spins the rotor, which in turn drives the generator, to create electricity.
Typically, the power created this way is fed into a battery bank and you use the power from the batteries, usually through a device called an inverter. The inverter changes the voltage it has stored in the battery bank into standard household current. Most homes are configured with power from utility companies and use AC power, which is typically 120 volts for light-duty functions and 240 volts for the larger heat-producing appliances in your home.
I have now thrown out several different terms, which may need further explanation. I will list the different elements and give a brief summary of what they are, how they work, and how they interact with the rest of your power system. I’m sure no one wants a long explanation, but rather a brief description of how these elements work together to make your home’s energy system produce the energy you use.
Components
Solar panels: Using sunlight, the panels heat up and convert the heat into electricity.
Wind turbine: the wind that passes through the blades, turns on a generator, creating electricity.
Battery Bank: This is how you store and use the energy you’ve collected, through the panels and the turbine.
Inverter – Changes electricity from DC to AC so you can easily use it.
Basic electrical terms
AC is short for “alternating current.” AC is the standard form of electrical power commonly used in the home. AC power cycles at 60 cycles per second, which means the electricity quickly changes direction, back and forth, so it appears as if it’s always on and produces the desired results with the appliances you’ve plugged in and turned on. When you grab onto a hot wire, using AC power, the electricity will continue to hit you until you turn off the power or manage to let go of it. AC power is very dangerous.
DC is short for “direct current.” DC is the type of voltage that you will have stored in your battery bank. DC only moves in one direction and will only bite you when you first touch it, and again when you try to drop it. Many farms and ranches use this type of energy to charge electric fences around paddocks. At small voltages DC is extremely safe and usually won’t hurt you.
The reason for the two different types of electricity is: AC can be transmitted over long distances, with a smaller cable, and has less line loss than its counterpart. DC line loss occurs when power is transmitted over distances. The further away your appliances are from the power source, the more power you have to push through the wires.
When the telegraph became part of the American communications system, the power source came from a battery bank, made up of “dry cells.” Because power reduces with distance, the telegraph relied on “relay stations” along its length to relay sent messages.
Other basic terms
Volts: The type of power or strength Amps: The strength of the power flowing through the wires Watts: The amount of power needed to run a particular device Resistance: The degradation of power being transmitted, due to the physics involved.
I promised I’d keep this short and simple, so we don’t get too deep. Electricity is an atomic action, through which an electron is transmitted through cables, to the units that are to be powered. When the electrons travel through the wires, part of the wire is transmitted with the power. Over time, the cables wear out from this and can cause poor connections.
There are some mathematical equations involved with the terms mentioned above. Voltage multiplied by amperage equals wattage. 110 volts (AC) times 5 amps equals 550 watts. If the appliance requires 110V to run and uses 9 amps of power, it will need 990 watts to keep running. In most cases, you won’t need to know these things, if you set up your system correctly.
Using a home power system
We finally got what you were looking for! Solar panels generate a finite amount of energy. The stronger the sunlight, the more power it can generate, but a panel can only deliver so much. So you’ll need plenty of panels to allow you to use as much power as you need. Solar panels will work on cloudy days, but not as effectively as in direct sunlight.
The panels generate electricity and send that energy to your battery bank. As the batteries are DC, to use this energy in your house it goes through an inverter. That changes the voltage from DC to AC.
The battery bank will be configured to store the energy it produced from the solar or wind plant. Typically the battery bank will be 12 volts, 24 volts, or various multiples of these. (By the way, your car uses 12 volts DC to run most systems.) The battery bank is designed to run, which means the batteries will charge and discharge many times throughout the day. Therefore, the size of your battery bank is just as important as the number of solar panels or the size of your wind farm. (how much wattage it produces, under ideal conditions)
This is just a basic overview. If you are interested in learning more, there are many books written about it. Using a home energy system can help lower your electricity bill, but the hype that the power company pays you for your excess energy isn’t really a reason to use this system.
This type of system is most beneficial when the power goes out, due to storms, downed power lines, or overuse, such as in East Coast blackouts, during peak power usage hours, when everyone and their cousins are using their air conditioners in summer, and heaters, in the cold of winter.
If you’re going to set up an alternate power system, like the ones I’ve described, remember to set it for excess power instead of just minimum. You will generate more energy in the summer than in the winter, due to the shorter days and less sun. In addition, the wind is not constant, although sometimes it seems so. And… The higher the wind plant, the more wind it can use.