Grid connect photovoltaic solar power systems are the most cost effective way of using solar energy to power your office, industrial or commercial facility.  They can be scaled up or down to meet anything from a portion of a small office's power requirements to the power requirements of large industrial facilities.

In a grid connected photovoltaic solar power system, the sun shines on the solar panels that then generate high voltage DC electricity.  This DC current is routed into a grid connect inverter that converts it to grid compatible 240V AC power which is then fed to your switchboard.  During the day, the solar electricity feeds any power requirements of the building with any shortage drawn in from the grid.  If the solar array is producing more power than the building is using, then the excess solar electricity is routed through the switchboard back into the grid.  At night, when there is no solar power being produced, electricity is drawn from the grid as usual.

HOW A GRID CONNECT SOLAR POWER SYSTEM WORKS

Grid connected solar power systems have some distinct advantages, the most important being:

• They are much cheaper than the equivalent stand alone system as they do not include expensive battery banks and do not require the solar array to be oversized to account for the worst case (peak load) situation, as the grid will provide power during any period when PV system output is insufficient.
• They are much easier to operate and maintain as the end user does not need to do anything to make the system work and will notice no change at all in their electricity supply.
• They are scalable as they run in parallel to the grid rather than separate to it and it is therefore not necessary for the solar to provide all of your electricity requirements.

There is an array of strategies that, as an environmentally conscious business, you could adopt to reduce your business' carbon footprint and one of these is by implementing a grid connect solar power system.  MPA Energy Solutions, with its head office in Brisbane, is able to assist you by offering our expertise in the following ways:

• Solar Consulting, Engineering and Installation
• Energy Audits
• Energy Management including Metering, Logging and Reporting