#TYPES OF GRID SYSTEMS GENERATOR#

Then the current can be efficiently transmitted long distances from power stations (or wind farms) to your local substation.

#TYPES OF GRID SYSTEMS GENERATOR#

A spinning generator without any modern power electronics to smooth it naturally generates AC as it spins round.Īlso, AC is much easier to put through transformers to jack up the voltage to hundreds of thousands of volts. For example, a steam turbine uses steam to spin a generator.

Why? Because all generators were made to spin. The reason they use AC power is that, at the advent of large-scale electricity generation, AC was much easier to generate. AC means that the current wiggles up and down 50 times a second. This voltage can be high: up to 600 V in a residential installation.īut the appliances in your home don’t use DC they use ‘alternating current’ (AC). The DC power is ‘direct current’, which means it is a steady voltage and current. Online resource: How the photovoltaic effect works: /pv

This is a solar power system that is connected to the grid. Ninety-five per cent of solar systems in Australia are of this type. This is still the most common solar system by a country mile. Right now, I want to quickly go over the different types of solar systems and where batteries come into the equation.Īt a high level, there are three types of solar power system: I’ll talk about the pros and cons of adding batteries to your system later. Overnight, solar installers were bombarded with people wanting batteries with their solar power systems. What happened? Billionaire Elon Musk jumped on stage in California and announced a product called the Tesla Powerwall, a sleek-looking home battery.įor people living off-grid, the concept of powering your home with a battery had been around for decades, but Musk’s gift for publicity took the concept from the off-grid fringe to the grid-connected mainstream. In May 2015, the public’s perception of solar power changed overnight. Feed-In Tariff | The Good Solar Guide Contents | Off-Grid Solar → Fundamental 3: The different types of solar systems

Types of grid systems