To make a comparative study in between Grid-Tied, Off-Grid and Hybrid solar system for finding out the best option for a particular situation we obviously have some idea on those.
Off-Grid Solar System
It is a basic solar power arrangement system for which a person can set up a solar system in their home or another place if there is any utility present or not. It consists of solar panel, charge controller, battery, solar inverter (now charge controller is inbuilt with inverter), any optional generator if present and other safety pieces of equipment.
Off Grid system
When solar array is in sunlight, it produces DC and then converted to AC by the inverter and put on load. The battery is also connected to an inverter for backup. Solar inverter maintains a priority of demand.
- At daytime, when panel generates electricity inverter first give it to load then excess amount is stored in a battery.
- When panel can’t generate sufficient energy at that time battery is used as a backup.
- When panel and battery can’t give sufficient amount of support at that time we can connect an optional generator too.
On-Grid Solar System
An on-grid system is an arrangement where we can’t use a battery. Except for a battery, we connect our system with the utility grid. So here job role for a utility grid is same as a battery bank. When we have extra we feed it to the grid and when
Grid-Tied System
we are in deficit we take from the grid. For billing purpose, we use net metering and gross metering for finding out how much we have given to the grid and how much we have taken from that utility. The main advantage of this system is that we have not make a battery bank for this type of arrangement and it gives an economic benefit to us.
Hybrid Solar System
It is nothing but the sum of two arrangements- off-grid system and on the grid system. We can describe it as an off-grid system with an extra utility backup power or a grid-tied system having an extra battery bank.
Hybrid System
Now we go for some merits and demerits so that you can get an idea, which one is best for your condition…
- Suppose we are living a place where utility grid is present but power cut-off is very frequent then we suggest you go for an off-grid arrangement.
- If in your place electricity cut-off is very less or null then the grid-tied system will be the best option for you.
- We can say, more electricity (and more money) goes to waste with conventional battery systems.
- Some people want to be self-sufficient rather saving money in case of energy. Energy self-sufficiency is also a form of security which can make some people feel good. Power failure does not affect off-grid solar power system. On another side, a battery can store an only certain amount of energy and be connected with utility will advantageous for a cloudy day.
- Though theoretically, we can say a hybrid system can solve all those problems but this system is complex and expensive. But this system is smart with lots of inventions and research. This is a smart solar concept and it holds a lot of promise. This concept will become important as we are moving towards smart grid system.
Nice to get some basic idea.
Thank you.