Solar power technology has matured over the years and today presents a very attractive alternative energy solution for most homeowners. Modern solar power systems are easy to install and more efficient than ever to provide enough energy to power the average home with a modest investment.

The first thing you need to do when deciding on the correct solar power system for your home is to figure out what your power requirements are. You can easily determine the average monthly electrical usage by checking the bill sent to you each month by the power company. This bill will list your monthly usage and you can calculate your monthly average over a year’s time. This number will give you a reasonable target to shoot for when designing your system. The advantage you have with a modern solar power system is that unlike in years past you can slowly expand the system year after year to reach this final goal. Older systems were much less flexible and required you to install all of the equipment at once. This prevented many homeowners from taking advantage of solar power because of the large initial investment. With these modern solar power systems you can start with a small compliment of solar cells and add a few more over time to reach your goal of complete independence from the local power utility.

Another important consideration is the mounting of the solar panels. Once you know how much power your home requires, you need to decide where to mount the panels. For solar panels to generate their maximum current they should be mounted facing south in the northern hemisphere and facing north in the southern hemisphere. This ensures that they will be exposed to as much of the sun as possible for the duration of the day. If you don’t have a roof with perfect exposure, there are certain rail kits that can help you adjust the panels slightly to improve their orientation. If you are still not able to achieve the proper orientation, you need to consider the most efficient solar panels you can afford. Some of these newer solar panels have been designed to provide large amounts of power from a less than perfect alignment. They are more tolerant of sun hitting them at an angle than older panels and can generate the majority of their output in these conditions. This allows homeowners that could not take advantage of a solar power system in the past because of the way their house was facing to now enjoy the free power the sun can provide.

The final consideration involves a battery bank. Most modern systems that are grid tied don’t require a battery bank to operate. They simply route all of the excess power that is generated by the solar panels back up the line to the power utility and generate a credit for the homeowner. The advantage of having a battery bank in your solar power system is that it will provide you with a backup in case of a power outage. If the local power utility is supplying you power in the evenings when your solar panels are dormant and they have a power failure, you can use these batteries to supply power to your home. The inverter will seamlessly convert this backup power into AC current that can be used in your home until the local utility comes back online.