A home solar system is simpler than it looks. It has a few main parts working together:
- Panels. Mounted on your roof, they convert sunlight into direct-current (DC) electricity.
- Inverter. Converts that DC electricity into the alternating current (AC) your home and appliances use.
- Your electric meter and the grid. When your panels make more power than you are using, the excess flows back to the grid; when they make less, you draw from the grid as usual.
The result is that you generate much of your own electricity during the day and lean on the grid the rest of the time. To understand how that lowers your bill, see how solar saves money.