How Your Neighbors and the Community Can Benefit from Your Home’s German Solar Power

Metro Manila, March 2021 - The main benefits of solar energy has been well-documented on our solar news page: cutting thousands off your electric bill, helping out the environment, and even increasing the value of your home. But did you know that having a solar energy system for your home or business also helps out your neighborhood and your immediate community?

Michigan Technological University professor Joshua Pearce and graduate student Koami Soulemane Hayibo recently published their findings that grid-tied solar energy system owners are actually subsidizing their neighbors who are solely relying on the grid.

Most solar energy systems, especially in the metro, are grid-tied and convert sunlight directly into electricity that is either used on-site or fed back into the grid. "Anyone who puts up solar is being a great citizen for their neighbors and for their local utility," Pearce said, noting that when someone puts up grid-tied solar panels, they are essentially investing in the grid itself. "Customers with solar distributed generation are making it so utility companies don't have to make as many infrastructure investments, while at the same time solar shaves down peak demands when electricity is the most expensive." [source]

The study broke down the “value of solar (VOS)” into a list of parameters: “The avoided costs considered are: plant O&M [operation & management] fixed and variable; fuel; generation capacity, reserve capacity, transmission capacity, distribution capacity, and environmental and health liability.” [source] They also found that utility customers with grid-tied solar energy systems are undercompensated in most of the United States, as the VOS greatly eclipses both the net metering and two-tiered rates that utilities pay for solar electricity.

There has never been a better time to invest in a solar energy system for your home or business!