For many years, solar energy was out of reach for a number of people. The cost to set up installations made it unaffordable for homeowners and even businesses were hesitant to do it. In part due to green energy initiatives by both the public and private sector, as well as it becoming culturally significant to be more eco-friendly, many advancements have been made.
Beyond just the base cost of solar panels, other technological advancements have made them portable, more productive, more versatile, and easier to use. Now is the time to take advantage of different solar energy options so that you can go green and cut down or eliminate your energy bills.
Home Solar
The advancements in home solar have really changed the way solar is viewed by the populace. Before now solar was seen as something for businesses that wanted to cut energy consumption costs and for big solar farms in some areas. The truth is, there are now many home solar energy system options for any size of home or energy requirement.
The cost of home systems is also much more affordable to where everyone can own one. Some homeowners are even able to completely negate their power bill and sell energy back to the local power company. Not only can you save money, but you can also now profit off of solar.
Commercial Solar
Much like home solar, commercial solar for large installations such as the roofs of sky rises and on farms has become much more efficient and less expensive with estimates of cost reductions greater than 50 percent over a ten-year period. With the efficiency improvements, businesses can now install solar arrays and cut much more of their energy use to prevent putting a strain on energy providers.
Even farmers have seen significant benefits, being able to install larger arrays while taking up less land and generating more energy. In fact, solar farming has become a massive industry. This is not just for solar farms, typical cattle farms are able to get in on the solar energy wave as well. Advancements have made panels smaller where they can be placed in less space and still allow animals to graze and vegetables to grow. Some crops can even be grown underneath a solar panel.
The Microinverter
The microinverter is not a new advancement by any respect, but it is one that is continuously advancing. The microinverter continues to improve on solar energy generation technology by allowing solar panels to create more and more power with each new iteration.
A microinverter is attached to each solar panel in an array and helps to optimize the panel to catch as much sunshine and convert it to energy as possible. Even cloudy days and shade-covered panels will produce more energy with a microinverter than an array with old string inverters under the best of circumstance.
Whether you’re a homeowner, businessperson, or farmer, now is the time to take advantage of solar energy.
