Net metering is an electricity policy that compensates customers for the amount of electricity they generate from their own solar energy and the amount of electricity they consume through the grid system.
During the day, the amount of electricity generated by the user’s solar panels is often greater than the amount of electricity used by the user during the day, and the electricity generated by the PV is supplied to the user first, while the excess electricity is delivered to the grid in exchange for credits. At night, when there is not enough solar power, your credits are used in exchange for power from the grid.
In the end, we will only count the excess amount of electricity you use, i.e. your net electricity usage. If your usage is less than the amount of electricity generated by the solar power, then this electricity can be sold to the grid in exchange for a subsidy or credits, but the exact amount of the subsidy is determined by the local grid policy.
For example, Vietnam only allows customers to sell up to 10% of their house’s PV generation to the local grid, while some countries only allow electricity consumption to be exchanged for credits, which accumulate to offset future electricity consumption.
Today, most solar panel will use two-way meter, when using electricity, the meter will run in reverse, and finally get the user’s net consumption.
Generally speaking, the peak of solar power system generation is at noon, however, the peak of electricity consumption is usually at night, during the daytime excess power generation will be stored in the grid, at night you can use this part of the power to generate power for themselves, to achieve a power balance, because most of the electricity used by their own homes is generated by the solar power grid.
Because most of the electricity used in your home is supplied by your own solar PV, you save a lot of money on your electricity bill.
If the amount of solar power generated is 100 KWh and your electricity consumption is 600 KWh, without net metering the extra 400 KWh would be wasted, and now you can use only 400 KWh to exchange for money or credits.
This type of energy storage that is delivered to the grid reduces the cost of your own energy storage system, but if you have a storage system, you can still have power when the power goes out.
