Technical: How Solar Net Metering Works

The system, the components and the billing process explained.

Why should you go Solar? What are the benefits? How does Solar PV System work? And what is Net Metering? This (longish) post tries to make sense of these questions and gives you a layman view of the operation of Solar PV System with Net metering.

TL;DR version of this can be seen in this video here. But please stick with us, we promise to make it interesting.

First, the question of Why Solar?

The existing grid is inefficient. It delivers power to you alright. But often, there are losses upwards 10% during transmission and distribution. The power that comes to your factory, office or home from the power plant often goes through a maze of networks where it is stepped-up, processed, stepped-down and so on. These networks incur a huge cost to maintain themselves and are fraught with inefficiencies. Also, with most of power in Bahrain coming from Non-Renewable sources of power (such as Coal, Natural Gas and other Fossil Fuels), there is a huge carbon footprint attached to it.

Rooftop solar promises to be a better solution to minimise these transmission and distribution losses. With rooftop solar, you get none of these hassles. All you do is set up your required solar power PV system on your rooftop and connect it to your main supply. The solar power that is produced from your rooftop is served to your appliances directly from your roof, straight and simple. 

Do you know that there are upwards of 70 different components and 4 different services that go into installing your Solar PV System. While Solar Panels and Inverters are the most visible and important items in the plant, it is the smaller equipment called Balance of System that make a difference between the system functioning normally or breaking down regularly.

How Solar PV System Works

The Solar Panels placed on your roof generate DC electricity. This DC electricity is converted to Alternating Current Electricity (the one we use for our home appliances) through an On-Grid Solar Inverter. The DC Distribution box is in between the Panels and the Inverter to protect the inverter and appliances from any surges or high current, high voltage situations. 

The AC power is fed into your home’s electricity distribution board which then distributes this power to either your appliances in your home or exports excess power to the electricity grid. The Bi-directional Net meter installed at your home during the solar installation will measure the power going inside your home and the power being sent to the grid from your home as ‘Import’ and ‘Export’ respectively. 

The inverter connects to the internet through your building’s WiFi and keeps sending Solar generation data and maintenance reports. All this power generation can be monitored on your phone or computer through an app that we provide. This is a simple explanation of how your On-Grid Solar PV plant works in layman terms.

Please do note that this system does not have batteries or it doesn’t work during power cuts. The grid itself acts as a giant battery and all the energy you produce or consume happens almost instantaneously.

How Net Metering Works

Now that you are relatively clear on how your Solar PV System works, let us explain how Net Metering works in the broader context below.

So I hope this explainer gave you the details of how Net Metering works and helped you take a step closer towards going solar.

Stay connected for the next technical article coming through. Stay safe.