Grid-tied electrical system

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Grid-tied electrical system" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

A grid-tied electrical system, also called tied to grid or grid tie system, is a semi-autonomous electrical generation or

grid. When insufficient electricity is available, electricity drawn from the mains grid can make up

the shortfall. Conversely when excess electricity is available, it is sent to the main grid. When the Utility or network operator restricts the amount of energy that goes into the grid, it is possible to prevent any input into the grid by installing Export Limiting devices.

When batteries are used for storage, the system is called battery-to-grid (B2G), which includes vehicle-to-grid (V2G).

How it works

Grid tie inverter

Direct Current (DC) electricity from sources such as hydro, wind or solar is passed to an

Battery-to-grid

A key concept of this system is the possibility of creating an electrical micro-system that is not dependent on the grid-tie to provide a high level quality of service. If the mains supply of the region is unreliable, the local generation system can be used to power important equipment.

Battery-to-grid can also spare the use of

Local generation can be from an environmentally friendly source such as pico hydro, solar panels or a wind turbine. Individuals can choose to install their own system if an environmentally friendly mains provider is not available in their location.

Small scale start

A micro generation facility can be started with a very small system such as a home wind power generation, photovoltaic (solar cells) generation, or micro combined heat and power (Micro-CHP)^[1] system.

Sell to and buy from mains

• Excess electricity can be sold to mains.
• Electrical shortfall can be bought from mains.

List of countries or regions that legally allow grid-tied electrical systems

See also

• Cost of electricity by source
• Distributed network
• Electric power transmission
• Electranet
• Photovoltaic system
• Grid tie inverter
• Inverter
• Deep cycle battery
• Power outage
• V2G
• Grid-connected photovoltaic power system
• Off the grid - direct current buildings

References