With extreme weather looming in the future, the race for mainstream solar + storage is more urgent than ever.
As a homeowner, you might be wondering, what is solar power, what are solar panels, and how do they work?
Solar panels have been around for more than 60 years. Since then, the technology has improved, while the cost of solar panel installation has decreased.
As recently reported by The Daily Good, iconic singer Prince—who passed away just over a year ago—was looking for a great place to invest $25 million dollars. After a conversation with CNN commentator Van Jones, anonymously invested in US-based Powerhouse, a for profit that connects solar entrepreneurs with investors.
Since Powerhouse was established in 2013 in Oakland, California, it’s helped over 43 clean energy startups create $52 million in revenue, raised $287 million in capital, and generated over 240 million megawatts of solar energy.
In the past, residential solar systems only generated power for that particular home during daylight hours. These types of systems required the installation of battery cells in the home to store power and provide electricity in the evening hours. However, as solar technology has drastically improved, the newest and growing type of solar system uses net metering.
What Is Net Metering? Net metering allows residential homes with solar systems to not only generate electricity to power their own homes but also share any excess power they create by feeding it into their energy providers’ electrical grids. For instance, most people work during the day, so their electric use is significantly less than it is during the evening hours. All of this excess electricity created during the day is shared with other people connected to the same electric grid.
