Do Solar Panels Provide Energy at Night ?

Solar panels power a building by collecting light from the sun and using the energy to make electricity. Since they rely on sunlight, solar panels can only produce energy during the day. However, homes with solar panels can still have power at night when the solar panels are not actively working. 

A house that has solar panels is also hooked up to the utility grid for its area. While the sun is shining, the solar panels are producing energy for the house. If the panels produce more energy than is used by the appliances in the house, the excess electricity will go out into the utility grid to be used in other buildings. 

Solar Power System in Night

At night, the appliances in the solar powered house will need to draw electricity from the grid to keep working. The utility company keeps track of how much electricity the house is drawing at night and how much it is supplying to the grid during the day. The homeowner only needs to pay for the difference, calculated by the electricity used minus the electricity produced. 

If a house produces more power than it uses, the utility company will pay money back to the homeowner. This is known as net metering. Utility companies look at energy use over the entire year when doing calculations for net metering. During the long days of summer, solar panels can produce much more energy than they do on short winter days. With net-metering, homeowners can bank energy throughout the year and avoid any major fluctuation in utility costs.

In some cases, a battery back-up system may be needed to provide reliable power. These systems can store solar power as it is being generated and then use it later. This is more likely to be necessary in areas with unreliable utility grids or frequent power outages due to weather. 

Some battery back-ups only store enough power for a few hours. These may only be able to power essential appliances. Larger batteries can store enough power for several days. A solar paneled house can be set up so that it uses battery power at night instead of utility grid power. However, the equipment for this can be very expensive. In most cases, the most efficient and reliable way to use solar power is to produce energy during the day, draw from the utility grid at night, and have a small battery back-up for outages.

Venture Capital and Traditional Lenders Commit to Solar Business in a Big Way

Because of solar power’s growing acceptance and the demand for solar power, a rising momentum in financing for solar companies comes as no surprise. Residential solar installs continue to increase as more households realize the incredible potential savings of solar. The development of new business alliances, hybridized sales channels, and companies’ own vertical integrations make it easier and potentially less expensive for homes and businesses to access solar energy. New capital from various sources is, of course, the fuel required by solar businesses to make these organizational and delivery changes necessary to grow. Although some of the earliest solar successes have emerged, it's clear that financing and increased import duties on China's solar industry could have a meaningful impact on tomorrow's leaders.

Residential Customer Demand for Solar Power

It's clear that demands coming from the residential market are spurring some of the world's largest investors to make greater commitments to solar businesses. Each homeowner wants a specialized design process to maximize the benefits of solar power at home. Here's a short list of recent financings that reflect the rising tide from residential customers:

Demand Forecast By Country

Sunrun reported that a USD100m equity financing was achieved through a syndicate including Madrone Capital, Foundation Capital, Sequoia Partners, and Accel Partners. Fifty million dollars was also raised with new investors, bringing the total equity finance round to USD150m. It's probable from the level of participants' funding that a liquidity event, such as an initial public offering (IPO), is likely at some point.

Clean Power Finance (CFP) recently received USD 200 million from Credit Suisse to finance more residential solar installs and projects. CFP has previously raised more than USD1bn in financing from a prestigious investor group including Sand Hill Angels, Edison International, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Claremont Creek Ventures, Google’s Ventures, and Duke Energy.

SolarCity, another top-tier solar install provider to the residential market, is rolling out a new homeowners' loan program. The company plans to offer credit-based financing at up to thirty-year maturity terms. The loan program is designed to allow SolarCity to serve more individuals and families with good credit (FICO score of 650 and higher). With tax credits and financing available to homeowners, SolarCity believes it will continue to meet growing demand in the U.S. market.

SunPower recently announced its USD42m non-resource debt facility and a partnership with Google in a USD250m facility to financial solar rooftops for residential customers. Google’s piece of the financing is USD100 million; SunPower says it will raise the additional USD150m. Google continues to demonstrate its commitment to solar power: the company has already invested more than USD1 bn in renewable energy projects yielding a full two gigawatts to residential customers around the world.

SunEdison, funded by a revolving credit line from Deutsche Bank Securities, announced it’s closed half (USD150m) of a total USD300m facility over a three-year term. The financing is focused upon developing projects in the U.S. and Canada. To date, Sun Edison has benefited from a total of USD1.2bn financing for projects yielding 325 megawatts.

Conclusion

The world's most sophisticated investors continue to commit growing amounts of capital to the solar project landscape. Residential demand reflects consumers' understanding of compelling tax and energy savings.

Mojave Solar Project- The Future of solar project

Energy, Efficiency, and Alternative Fuels in China

Due to its recent industrial and economic growth, China has been faced with the issueof fuel shortages. The increased consumption of fuels and rises in the need for energy has caused a rise in need. As their need has risen, they have grown more dependent upon importing from other countries in order to meet their country's increasing fuel demands. This has caused an increasing risk for them, as their growing economy will soon make it difficult to meed their needs. For this reason, they have begun to pursue the institutionalization of more stringent efficiency policies as well as the development of more efficient fuel sources.

The dangers of relying on oil have become increasingly apparent for China and the pace of growth that they have experienced has only made it that much more dangerous. As their country has continued to grow, more and more oil has been consumed. This has been due to not only a growing amount of private and public transportation, but an increase in the production and consumption of energy. In order to alleviate this issue, they have begun to promote efficiency standards and support the development of alternative fuels and engines.

China has offered incentives in order to help promote alternative fuel use. This includes not only the subsidization of production, but also promotion of the public's dedication to purchasing these alternatives as a choice. This has been through the use of outreach programs that give benefits to those who make the decision to purchase alternativevehicles or fuels.

They have also actively supported the development of alternative fuels and motors. By giving subsides to companies that are pursuing alternatives to oil, the Chinese government wishes to give them the incentive that is necessary to reach their goals. As China has such a high population, the fact that more and more people are beginning to drive poses a large risk for them. This gives rise to the need for both alternative sources of fuel and more efficient engines. They have supported the production of bio-fuels as well as alternative fuel cells that can more efficiently run modern vehicles. They have also supported the production of electric and hybrid cars that they hope will one day replace modern oil based engines.

As their economy continues to grow, China must develop newer and locally generated energy sources in order to meet the rising demands. As the amount of industrial production grows, it becomes more and more difficult for them to rely on imported sources of fuel. For this reason, they have begun to actively develop newer and more efficient sources of energy production within their own country. This includes not only the development of solar and wind power, but also the building of hydroelectric dams.