Net metering vs. net billing, the interconnection application process through permission to operate, net and production metering requirements, how TOU and demand-charge rate structures shape system design, and utility-required disconnects and revenue-grade meters.
Every grid-connected renewable energy system has a second customer besides its owner: the utility whose circuit it connects to, with its own binding tariff, metering rules, and interconnection process running alongside the NEC. This module works through net metering versus net billing and why that distinction can change a project's entire sizing strategy, the fast-track-versus-full-study interconnection process through permission to operate, the metering hardware utilities actually require, and how TOU and demand-charge rate structures feed directly back into storage sizing and dispatch decisions.
By the end of this module you should be able to explain why the same physical array and identical annual production total can produce very different customer savings purely based on which tariff structure governs its exports — and why a grid-tied system with no battery still goes dark in an outage even with sunlight hitting the panels.