Frequently Asked Questions

Self generation of energy through photovoltaic panels has numerous economic and environmental advantages. Among them we can easily cite:

1º – The main source of energy used by the building is no longer the public grid and becomes the sun, a free and inexhaustible source of energy.

2º – The person becomes able to generate his own energy, reducing to a minimum value the account of energy, protecting himself of possible increases of rate.

3º – The return on investment for installation of solar panels occurs in about 06 years, while the boards have a lifespan of over 25 years.

4º – The installation of the photovoltaic system does not mean the disconnection of the property from the public power grid and thus do not oposes harm to the property’s value. In contrast, studies from the Berkley laboratory (laboratory at the University of California, USA) point to an average increase of 6% in the sale value of the property. Other than that the owner can also make the option of transporting the system to another facility.

5º – The use of photovoltaic systems helps to protect our natural environment by diversifying the Brazilian energy matrix and thereby making Brazil less dependent on hydroelectrics, fossil energy (eg thermoelectric) and even nuclear energy. We can not afford to continue flooding large areas for hydroelectric power plants, reserving water for power generation when people are thirsty, deforesting forests to generate electricity by burning, let alone giving in to the risks inherent in nuclear power plants.

The return time of the investment in solar energy depends mainly on two factors: the energy tariffs applicable to the property and the availability of solar radiation from the region. Nowadays this time of return turns around 06 years, being able to be smaller for the northeast region.

Some states nowadays give exemption of ICMS on the energy consumed and the tendency is that all the states of the Union follow this way, in addition there is the exemption of taxes on all the necessary components for the installation of a photovoltaic solar system when are sold together in a Solar Kit

Brazil has already recognized the importance of photovoltaic energy and with that all the federative units are taking actions to encourage the brazilians to adhere to start using this energy, since it is cheaper for the nation when the population contributes to the generation of energy instead of leaving all the responsibility, on making and managing the works necessary to meet the ever increasing energy consumption, for the government

Certainly! The solar system is installed integrating itself to the public network of distribution of energy which allows its removal without causing damage to the property itself. Apart from this, some studies, such as those conducted by the University of California, in the United States of America, indicate that buildings with their own energy systems have an average increase of up to 6% in their sales value compared to similar properties without the power generation system.
The system can also be sold with or without the property!

Solar power systems have two main components, photovoltaic panels and interactive inverters. The panels have the function of transforming the Sun’s radiation into electrical energy and the second deals with this energy, matching it with the grid’s standard, and sends it to the electrical network. This system generates during the day and sends this energy to the electrical network (when the energy is sent to the grid the energy meter turns in the opposite direction), then the household appliances consume the energy of the grid (turning the meter in the normal direction ), At the end of the month if the residence has generated more energy than consumed it earns that surplus as a credit in the distribution company.

It is important to understand that in the sizing of the solar energy system it is foreseen that some months the consumption will be greater than the generation and in others the opposite will happen, being that this difference between generation and consumption tends to be null for an annual average.

The project will be done in two stages: a preliminary and more simplified and a specific and individualized end for each property.

In the first will be collected initial data, such as consumption and location of the property, to get an idea of the size and cost of the indicated system for the property. This first stage is performed free of charge by YellowGreen and serves as the basis for the next step.

In the second stage a team will visit the site to check available space, better location and slope for panels, daily sun exposure level and possible need for public network and installation’s physical structure adequacy. In order to produce a final project worked on the specific reality of the property studied.

The “electricity bill” does not only charge the energy consumed by the citizen, it also includes the expenses related to the operation of the energy concessionaire and to the management and maintenance of the public electricity distribution network.

As the photovoltaic system does not remove the property from the public distribution network, it will not be able to reduce the energy bill to zero. However, you can reduce the account to the minimum value charged by the distributors, which is charged even if there is no power consumption.

ANEEL Resolution 456/2000 established the minimum values for each residential consumer unit profile. For monophasic* and biphasic units with two conductors, the value in currency will be equivalent to 30 kWh, even if there is no consumption. For biphasic units * the minimum charge will be equivalent to 50 kWh, and for three-phase units the value will be 100 kWh.

Total energy independence is possible through an autonomous system that brings together photovoltaic modules and super-designed batteries. Such batteries must be capable of capturing and storing the generated energy in order to avoid waste and enable the use of energy even when it is not being generated (it is usually recommended that the system be designed to guarantee energy for up to 03 days without generation).

It’s important to warn you that the high cost of the items, especially the batteries, required for this autonomous system currently makes these projects non attractive, since it is still a lot cheaper to stay connected to the public network and pay the utility’s minimum costs so that the public network operate in place of batteries and as a backup power generation.

Photovoltaic energy arises from the transformation of solar radiation into electrical energy, a method that does not depend on the combustion or agitation of matter. So, It does not emit noises or polluting gases.

Photovoltaic modules, the most expensive items in the system, have the durability above 30 years, however some equipment have to be changed sooner. For example the interactive inverters have the useful life of approximately 12 years.

To understand how the use of photovoltaic solar energy benefits the planet, we must first recognize that the consumption of electric energy by humans is inherent to the organization of human society itself. So, we can easily conclude that such consumption tends to increase, either because the population of the planet continues to grow or because our comfort demands more energy.

So this way the human being needs to constantly expand its energy generation and it is here that solar photovoltaic energy presents a difference: since it is a clean energy (it does not generate residues in its production) and renewable energy (it uses raw material that does not need human intervention and will never extinguish: radiation from the sun) par excellence, it is able to generate electricity without causing the least damage to the natural environment.

Today it is imperative that more and more people adhere to the use of solar photovoltaic energy, to mitigate the environmental damages caused by the day-to-day life and to prevent new harmful attitudes. That the growth of the consumption of electric energy be served through a clean and renewable energy par excellence, instead of the burning of organic material in thermoelectric plants; The flooding of large areas of forest or even cities for the construction of hydroelectric power plants; Or dependence on nuclear power plants.

The solar modules are usually made with crystalline silicon cells and among the possible colors for the cell, blue is the one with the highest capitation efficiency and solar energy. In fact, these silicon slices are greyish-gray in color and they end up with the blue color in the last stage of their production, when they receive an anti-reflective layer normally composed of silicon nitrate.

For people who opted for the conventional or mixed photovoltaic system, in the periods without sun will be used energy from the public network. It is worth remembering that in this system all the energy generated during the day and not used by the property returns to the public grid and serves as credit for the generator property.
Those who installed an autonomous system will depend on the energy stored by the batteries to continue using electricity.

Contrary to common sense, photovoltaic modules work with radiation from the sun and not necessarily with lighting. Thus, power generation occurs even on cloudy or rainy days, varying only in intensity.