I was told that if a person operates a solar or wind generator, and if they produce more power than they need, this power is put back into the grid, and the producer is actually paid for the energy they make.
Ok, this all makes sense, but I'm a bit confused how this works. First off, I assume that a home solar panel or wind generator produces either 120VAC or 240VAC. And if I'm correct, the solar panels actually produce DC which is converted to AC.
Now, here comes the confusing part. If there is a surplus of power, it backfeeds into the grid and makes the persons electric meter go in reverse. But there is a pole transformer. On the input side of this transformer there is a high voltage of 15K (or other amount of volts).
So lets say I'm back feeding 120V into my pole transformer. Does this transformer actually work backwards and increase the voltage? Or does the person need some special transformer? And lets say that this back flow is putting 20amps of 120VAC into the grid. Don't the much higher current from the power company just sort of fight against this low current, or do they just blend together. I understand how power is generated using wind power, solar cells, or even a gasoline generator, but I cant comprehend how back flow into the grid works.
Thanks
James