With a good energy density, endless supply and steadily decreasing costs, solar energy is quickly becoming the new power source of choice for many different kinds of applications. Street lights, security cameras, highway billboards and more are employing off grid solar PV to great effect. The simplest kind; the solar PV panel converts sunlight directly into electrical current allowing you to soon pay off the cost of the initial setup with this perpetual form of energy.
Anywhere you need light, heat or electricity (given the right additional components to convert between the different sources of energy), a solar PV system can oblige you. Their ability to store sunlight energy for later use is what makes them so effective as garden lamps, surveillance cameras and streetlights, since they can be set to automatically release their stored energy at dusk. Their reliability can be enhanced by making use of backups in the form of on-grid power sources (the neighborhood utility grid will do), which has the noticeable effect of drastically reducing your energy bill overall – since the times when you’ll need the backup are rare; especially if you reside in a sunny region. It’s also worth it to note that most off grid sola PV systems come with proprietary software to regulate the energy expenditure, which basically just means that the stored energy will be mediated throughout the day – and not just when the sun is out.
In essence then, off grid solar PV functions as a sort of microgrid; which can have positive, far-reaching ramifications. In many sunny areas during the summer months, for example, the local grid is often taxed to the point of rolling blackouts and power shortages, as everyone stretches the available fossil fuels to the breaking point. If you and your neighbors had access to their own personalized off grid solar PV systems, there is no doubt these problems would be drastically reduced – if not altogether eliminated. Neighborhood watches could be much more effective with surveillance cameras employing highly-placed cameras that switch on at night when motion is detected. Pictures and video can then be sent to homebound hard drives without any additional setup by you; for just one of the crucial applications made possible by endless solar energy.
Because of the converters that can change sunlight energy to electricity, solar power is lately being used to power the ubiquitous wireless networks and WiFi systems in sunny regions. This reduces the overhead of companies and businesses that are already offering dirt-cheap WiFi to even lower prices; or completely free – as you’ve no doubt noticed in parks and cafes where you can sit all day and enjoy free internet access. Once again, the solar systems in place pay for themselves very quickly, since the supply of energy is free and unending.
Continuing the trend of community-oriented uses, off grid solar PV power is also incentivized by the federal government; meaning that if you own a robust microgrid and produce more than enough solar energy than the personal energy needs of your family, you can make money by selling this surplus back to the government for on-grid purposes. Even if you don’t make excess energy, the transition to solar is highly sought-after by the federal government as a way of life, and there are already incentives in place to reward people willing to make the transition (in part).