Our system pulls enough power to meet our needs on cloudy and rain days. I have yet to see a day when this has not been true.

But we are connected to the grid, too. We pay a small fee each month to the utility company to maintain the connection. Our system automatically switches to utilty-provided power if our battery is depleted at night. This connection to the utility company allows us to give surplus power back to the grid- which is when our battery is recharged and our system is producing more than our needs. The rate for producing power is significantly lower than the rate they charge to produce power. However, even after covering the monthly utility fee and charging the car, we got money back from the utility company last month.