How Does A Smart Meter Work With Solar Panels

Check whether your smart meter and in home display will work fully with them.

How does a smart meter work with solar panels.

If you are on a net feed in tariff scheme your net meter measures your household s electricity and the electricity generated by your solar pv system together. With a smart meter installed a household will be able to tell its energy supplier exactly how many kilowatt hours kwh it s sending to the grid. The second shows power coming in from the grid and the third shows power going out from your solar into the grid. A smart meter won t stop your solar panels working and generating electricity and it won t alter the amount of electricity you get to use.

The microgeneration source connected to the export smart meter will provide accurate information to the energy supplier to provide an accurate bill based on how much energy you have imported and exported. The answer to this question depends up to a point on what you mean by interfere. Smart meters have been designed to be able to work with solar panels and other microgeneration. Furthermore the same is valid for the export of solar energy back to the grid.

With analogue meters the default is 1 1 net metering. Although you may already have a current smart meter installed at your property it would still need to be changed or altered to accomodate for a bi directional digital meter. Most importantly the new smart meters work with solar panels and other photovoltaic systems. If you choose to get a smart meter installed it will only be able to display the energy.

If you re getting a smart meter installed make sure that your supplier is aware you have solar panels. As part of recent government regulations every home that gets a new solar pv system installed needs a new digital meter to be installed in their meter box. The main issues some people have reported when coping with a combination of solar panels and smart meters is that the meters connected to the solar panels are analogue meters or what we like to call dumb meters. Solar panels are designed to store energy and convert it so you can use it in your home.

Your electricity company reads the meter and calculates any surplus electricity fed back into the grid. You produce excess energy it reduces the amount of energy measured on your bill by the same amount the meter spins backwards. Most smart meters will make a recording of your electricity exports on a half hourly basis allowing suppliers to adjust their rates based on nationwide demand. They allow the consumer to see exactly how much energy they are using from their solar installations and how much they are importing from the grid.

Solar panel owners should have a pv generation meter that shows how much electricity their system is generating. One is a test screen where all lights are on.