First, what is PV? It is a term used in the solar industry referring to photovoltaic. This system is specially made for a house and generates electricity with the solar panels in it. It is part of distributed solar power generation which includes residential and commercial solar power generation forms. Commercial one mainly refers to those systems installed on commercial buildings like office, school, factory and other kinds of buildings. By adopting this, electricity can be generated inside a house and doesn't have to depend on the local utility grid any more. Currently they can be divided into three groups: grid-tie, off-grid and hybrid systems.
The grid-tie system is now the most popular one among the three, and its advantages are most obvious. It can keep supplying electricity to your family all day long without a pause, making sure your house will never meet blackouts unless the utility grid fails. It is often cheaper than a system which has storage batteries, which often cost much. This makes an off-grid system disadvantageous, but people living in remote areas can use it to drive away darkness.
The second feature of the grid-tie system is it cannot only help save money, but also it can earn money from the utility grid, for your unused electricity will be fed back to it, which will pay you according to how much electricity your system feeds to it. Besides this, you can also get incentives from the local government if it approves your system. The best functional system is the hybrid one, which integrates the features of the two former ones. Therefore, it is connected to the grid and also has storage batteries. The most prominent disadvantages of it is that it costs too much.
Among the three systems the most important components are solar panels used for generating electricity and PV inverters used for converting direct current into alternating current. And so they are the most important components. In addition, if the system is an off-grid system which needs batteries for power supply when it is dark at night. Without them, the system would be discarded by users. So, they can be one of the most important components in such a special PV system.
When installing solar panels, you should know that these things should be installed on your rooftop where rich sunlight reaches everyday, and they should be adjusted to certain angles so as to absorb the most sunlight to generate electricity. If your roof has no enough space, you should consider buying highly efficient ones. Before buying PV inverters, you should make yourself clear what types are what you really want and are most suitable for your system.
Usually people buy string inverters, but sometimes they buy micro inverters because they are more efficient but more expensive. When you maintaining the system, you don't have to worry too much, because you mainly need to clean off the dust on the solar panels three or fours a year in common conditions. But if it snows too much and your panels are covered with thick snow, you will have to be more diligent. The inverters don't require too much time for maintenance as long as you install them in dust-free and moisture-free places. In fact, micro solar inverters are usually installed under solar panels.
It depends on your choice. On average conditions a family only needs a 3 to 4 kW system, which generates about 4,000 to 5,000 kWh of electricity each year. A few families may need a bigger one. A 5 kW system might meet their needs, for it can generate about 6,000 kWh of electricity each year.