Gride Tie Inverter

[xzyrex]

I am trying to reduce my utility bill it is eating chunk of my monthly Salary each month, i have now couple of 200w Solar Panels and Grid Tie Inverter. I have some Concerns regarding the installation of this.
My biggest concern is dose the AC current from the Grid will flow right through from the Invert to the Solar Panel?
what other equipment is needed to install?
Dose the Reqular Utility Meter this Job?

To be honest i am quite new on this here we dont have much expert on Solar Energy so i have to rely on solely on Internet

[jflorey2]

My biggest concern is dose the AC current from the Grid will flow right through from the Invert to the Solar Panel?

Edited to say - no. The inverter makes sure that current flows only from the panels to the grid. (Misread it the first time.)

what other equipment is needed to install?

Generally you will also need racking, conduit, AC disconnect, DC disconnect and the usual assortment of wire and wiring devices.

Dose the Reqular Utility Meter this Job?

The utility will upgrade the meter and/or install a new meter once they schedule the inspection. If you are one of the people thinking "well I will just plug in a $100 inverter, not tell the utility - and save tons of money the easy way!" then be prepared for your electric bills to go UP. Many meters count every kilowatt-hour going in or out as billable power - so if you use 600 kwhr per month and generate 200, your new bill will be for 800 kilowatt-hours a month.

To be honest i am quite new on this here we dont have much expert on Solar Energy so i have to rely on solely on Internet

That's not a great position to be in. A local installer will have much better advice for you.

[inetdog]

I am trying to reduce my utility bill it is eating chunk of my monthly Salary each month, i have now couple of 200w Solar Panels and Grid Tie Inverter. I have some Concerns regarding the installation of this.
My biggest concern is dose the AC current from the Grid will flow right through from the Invert to the Solar Panel?
what other equipment is needed to install?
Dose the Reqular Utility Meter this Job?

To be honest i am quite new on this here we dont have much expert on Solar Energy so i have to rely on solely on Internet

Hello xzyrex, and welcome to Solar Panel Talk!

My impression is that you are not located in the US, so most of our members will not have a good idea what the condition of and rules governing your power grid are.

But I can give a few general answers:

1. The GTI (Grid Tie Inverter) will not let the grid power feed back into the solar panels. It is designed to isolate the panels from the grid when there is no sunlight on the panels or the GTI is turned off. But just in case the GTI develops a fault, there should be fuse in series with the panels to protect them.
2. There are many different ways that a power meter can be built. The earliest have a slowly spinning disk that turns the meter dials through gearing. If the disk rotates backwards (when your GTI makes more power than you are using) the disk spins backwards AND the dials move backwards too.
The next variation turns the dials forward regardless of the direction in which the disk is rotating. You do not want to have that kind or the utility will bill you for power that you are sending back to them.
Next come a variety of electronic digital meters, but they too are divided into those that count up or down depending on the power direction and those that count only up.
3. If you have two 200W panels and a GTI, it is likely that the GTI you are using, at 400W capability, is designed to plug into a mains outlet rather then being hard wired. That is not legal in the US and often is a sign of a cheap inverter which may breakdown or catch fire. In any case, you should plug it into a receptacle on a circuit which is not used for anything else to minimize the risk of wiring damage.
4. In the US the other important part of the system is an agreement with the grid operator allowing you to operate the GTI.

Let us know more about your panels and GTI as well as your utility policy and we may be able to give more specific advice.