Solar Energy for Home
Solar energy is an infinitely renewable resource that uses the sun’s rays to generate electricity for use in your home. By going solar, you can reduce your energy costs and also lower your dependence on fossil fuels, thereby making your own contribution to a cleaner environment.

A residential solar-energy system uses solar modules, made up of photovoltaic (PV) cells, to harvest the sun’s energy and convert it into electricity that can be used to power your lights, appliances and other electrical devices in the home.
Types of Home solar systems

Grid-tied PV systems
A grid-tied system is the most common and least expensive of all residential solar systems. It allows you to use your own solar-generated electricity to save energy and reduce costs. At night PV systems will not be producing any electricity and electricity is provided by the utility company’s grid to home.

One of the benefits of a grid-tied system is that any excess electricity produced by your solar system can be fed back to the grid through a process known as net metering.Net metering is a billing mechanism that credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they add to the grid. For example, if a residential customer has a PV system on the home's rooftop, it may generate more electricity than the home uses during daylight hours. If the home is net-metered, the electricity meter will run backwards to provide a credit against what electricity is consumed at night or other periods where the home's electricity use exceeds the system's output. Customers are only billed for their "net" energy use.

Off Grid or Stand-alone PV systems
Stand-alone PV systems, also called off-grid, operate independently from the utility grid, providing all of the electricity needed in the home. Stand-alone systems are little expensive than grid-tied systems. However, for homes located in remote areas without utility service, or where installing power lines would be extremely costly, a stand-alone system is a good option.