HOW SOLAR POWER WORKS - ON-GRID, OFF-GRID AND HYBRID SYSTEMS
On Grid Solar System
On grid (or grid-tie) solar system is the most common system which is used by house or commercial scale. These systems work without batteries but grid-tie solar inverters or micro inverters. They are connected to the poblic electricity grid and give priority to residential appliance. The excess solar energy will be transfered to electricity grid.
It is different from hybrid solar system. On grid system can not work when there is blackout due to some safty reasons. The blackout normally happens when the electricity grid breakdown. It will hurt the repairing people if the system still working when the grid damaged.
Off Grid Solar System
Off grid system is an isolate "department" which is not connected to the grid. Off grid system needs to work with energy storage batteries (acid battery, lithium battery ect...). It needs sceientific system design so that off grid system can generate appropriate power to supply a house. It can work during the sunshine hours of the whole year idependetely.
The cost of the batteries are reducing due to the growing market and there have a huge potential of the energy storage batteries in the coming future.
Hybrid Solar System
Modern hybrid systems combine solar and battery storage in one and are now available in many different forms and configurations. Due to the decreasing cost of battery storage, systems that are already connected to the electricity grid can start taking advantage of battery storage as well. This means being able to store solar energy that is generated during the day and using it at night. When the stored energy is depleted, the grid is there as a back up, allowing consumers to have the best of both worlds. Hybrid systems are also able to charge the batteries using cheap off-peak electricity (usually after midnight to 6am).
