What is solar PV?

PV or Photovoltaic panels are a semiconductor technology that converts light energy into electricity. These usually come in a flat panel that can be mounted with other panels to form a solar system.

An array of panels will normally be used to supply dc power to an ac invertor. The invertor will then convert the dc to your normal 240v AC mains.

The invertor can be hooked up with a dongle to provide remote monitoring and data collection.

Batteries

When in sunlight your panels will start generating electricity. They will start to generate with a relatively small amount of daylight but the brighter and stronger the light becomes the more power they generate. Typically a system will exceed the load on the property and have excess power.

The excess power can then be fed into a battery system or can be exported to the national grid.

Your invertor will be aware of the batteries and control the charging. Once the batteries are charged then the system will switch to exporting excess solar energy to the grid. As the day light dims in the evening then the system will still deliver the load required by the property until the batteries run out.

You will only draw from mains power if you exceed the capacity of the system.