How Solar Works
From sunlight to savings
Solar is straightforward once you understand the flow. Here's how a residential solar system turns sunlight into electricity for your home.
Sunlight
Daylight hits the solar panels on your roof.
Solar Panels
Panels convert sunlight into direct current (DC) electricity.
Inverter
The inverter converts DC electricity into alternating current (AC) used by your home.
Home
Your home uses the solar electricity first, before drawing from the grid.
Utility Grid
Excess production flows to the grid through net metering; you draw back when needed.
The components
Understanding each part of the system
Solar panels
Panels are made up of photovoltaic cells that generate electricity from sunlight. Output depends on panel efficiency, size, orientation and shading.
Inverters
Inverters convert the DC electricity from panels into AC electricity your home uses. String inverters and microinverters are the two common approaches.
Electrical panel
Solar connects through your home's electrical panel, where a solar breaker allows the system to feed electricity into your home's circuits.
Utility grid
Your home remains connected to the BC utility grid, which supplies power when your panels aren't producing enough and accepts excess production.
Net metering
Net metering credits you for excess electricity you send to the grid, offsetting power you draw back later — effectively using the grid as a buffer.
Battery storage
A home battery stores excess production for use in the evening or during outages. Whether a battery makes sense depends on your goals and utility setup.
Monitoring
Most systems include monitoring so you can see production and consumption in real time, helping you understand how your system is performing.
Ready when you are
Want to know how this applies to your roof?
See how sunlight, your roof and your usage come together for your specific home.
