Solar 101
Everything you need to know about solar on one page.
How Solar Works
Click the numbers below to learn how each part of the solar process works.
Click the moon to switch to nighttime and click the sun to switch back to day.
Daytime
Solar panels are constructed of photovoltaic cells that absorb sunlight. Sunlight energizes these solar cells and sets in motion a process that creates direct current (DC) (not the comic company) electricity.
Panel
Roof bling! That’s what you’ll think when you see the newest technology in photovoltaic (PV) solar panels on your home. PV solar panels turn electrons (sunlight) floating down onto your roof into DC electricity (stands for “Direct Current” – not to be confused with the comic book company). With no moving parts, they have been turning sunlight into electricity quietly and reliably for decades. Today’s panels look sleek and smart and have a life expectancy of 35+ years (25 years warrantied). Oh, and Jolt’s solar systems have no maintenance so you can set it and forget it!
Inverter
An inverter changes Direct Current electricity produced by your solar panel into safe and usable electricity that your home uses: AC (Alternating Current). Inverter technology has made a remarkable jump in reliability and performance in the last decade with up to a 25-year warranty behind them. Inverters can be configured as a single inverter for the entire solar array, or as individual microinverters attached to each panel. Each configuration can have its advantages depending on panel type, roof angle, shading, climate, and other factors. We’ll help you know which type fits your needs.
Meter
After Jolt installs your solar system, we send your utility company to install a new meter designed to track incoming and outgoing electricity. You’ll typically hear this called a “net meter” or “bi-directional meter” because of its ability to track incoming and outgoing electricity. Now, your home is no longer just a consumer of electricity but a producer as well because of the solar “power plant” on your roof. The net meter keeps track of any excess electricity that you produce and don’t use.) This excess power you push out to the grid that you didn’t need (typically in the day), comes back to you later when you do need it (typically at night). The net meter keeps track of every single watt.
Home
Your house is powered up with all of the energy it needs.
Utility Company
When utilizing solar power, the utility company plays the role of a battery system. Allowing you to “store” your extra electricity your solar produced during the day and use it later at night. The net meter your utility installs will keep track of your kilowatt-hour (kWh) credits produced and consumed and report the net results on your monthly statement. Because of the role of your utility, you don’t need to install an expensive battery system to save money using solar energy.
Energy Credit
Your system is designed to produce more energy than your house needs throughout the day. Excess energy is sent to the utility company and your meter tracks your credits that will be exchanged for the energy you consume at night.
Piggy Banks
Electricity (kilowatt hours) produced during the day are sent to the electrical grid and made available when your solar system isn’t producing electricity.
Utility Company
The utility applies the excess electricity (kW/h) credits your solar system generates during the day to fulfill the demand your home needs during non producing hours.
Meter
The net meter (bi-directional meter) that is installed by your utility provider shortly after we install your solar array, will track the amount of electricity exported to the grid. It will also track what you import back to your home at night.
House
The utility provider will continue to send electricity to your home during non producing hours. Any electricity that is left over from your solar production is sent back to the meter and kept as credits for future use.
How We Size Your Solar System
JOLT technology allows us to give you a custom-designed solar system that fits your unique home and lifestyle – without the custom price. Let’s show you how.
Clear Day
100% Production
Cloudy Day
Up to 25% Production
Rainy Day
Only 10% Production
Your electric bill will tell us how many kilowatt-hours (kWh) you use over the past year.
Our technology analyzes this data and create a usage pattern.
We couple that with even more data about sunlight hours in your area, regional climate, roof direction, azimuth, slope, possible shading, and other factors to give you a custom-designed solar system that does what we say it will do.
It actually doesn’t matter whether you get lots of rain or snow or smog in your town, because we design your system to produce the same as your power bill needs spread over a year.
Are you cool, or could you be cooler?
Sometimes over-sizing a system makes sense.
JOLT goes above beyond to ensure we’re future-proofing your solar system as much as possible. By utilizing your historical data and your input, our proprietary software will estimate future needs and generate the custom-designed system you need. Electric vehicles, hot tubs, kids moving out, kids moving back, in-laws whether you want ’em or not, home additions, or other things that might affect your electricity needs will all be factored in our algorithm.
You should be comfortable in your home. Feel free to crank that AC and leave those lights on a little longer – if you’re powered by the sun, you’re cooler than cool.
Cool Off
with AC
Drive Electric
Everywhere
Install
a Pool
What about my electric company?
Because you have a solar-friendly utility company, offering a “net-metering” or “feed-in-tariff” program (whichever applies), you won’t have to pay $25k+ for a whole-home battery system to store your power.
Instead, you’ll use the utility grid for power storage. They need energy, so they’ll distribute your excess solar to your neighbors and give you a credit on your account. So when you receive your power bill after solar, you’ll see how much solar energy they bought from you, how much energy you used from them, and the difference you may have racked up (either a credit or a shortfall), plus a few bucks for those connection fees everyone pays for the convenience of not having to use pesky batteries.
