Terms to know before you shop for a solar electric system:

Net Metering: A service option available from your electric utility that allows your electric meter to spin backwards when excess energy is generated by your solar electric system. The excess energy is effectively stored by the utility until it is required for future use by the customer.

Solar Cell: The basic building block of a solar electric system. Solar cells are made of a semiconductor material and convert sunlight directly into electricity.

Solar Module: A group of solar cells, modules are the smallest solar electric components sold commercially, ranging in power output from 10 watts to 300 watts.

Inverter: A device that converts Direct Current (DC) into Alternating Current (AC).

Kilowatt (kW): 1,000 watts of electric power.

Kilowatt-hour (kWh): A unit of electric power consumption indicating the total energy developed by the power of one kilowatt acting for one hour.