With all the recent news about power outages and rolling blackouts, you might be wondering, “will my solar power system still work if there is a power outage?”.
A quick answer to this question would be, “yes it could but…”
In this article, I am going to answer a very common misconception about solar panels.
Power Outages in the U.S.
To start with, I wanted to briefly cover the “power outage situation” as a whole.
According to Energy Professionals, one of the leading energy consulting firms in North America, “Research reveals that power outages in the United States are higher than in any developed country. Residents of the upper Midwest, for example, say that customers experience blackout at an average of 92 minutes every year. In contrast, Japan experiences only 4 minutes of outage every year.”
Apart from the thousands of minor power outages that occur every year, in the last twelve months, we’ve witnessed two major power outage catastrophes. One in California, and one in Texas.
Sure, both states are far from Jersey. But according to a power outage tracking site New Jersey’s already experienced 152 power outages this year which affected over 4 million people.
So if you have solar, or if you’re looking into installing a solar system for your home and want to know if it’s going to still supply power during a power outage, well, it’s a very valid question.
Grid-Tied Systems
While a solar PV system can generate all the power your home needs in order to operate and then some, most systems are designed so that they are still tied to the power grid.
This is what is called a “grid-tied system”.
The simplest way to explain a grid-tied solar system is that the system is still reliant on the power grid to produce usable power. Don’t get me wrong, you’re still producing your own power, but you’re channeling it through the grid so that you can take advantage of excess energy through net metering and so that you can have power at times when the sun is not shinning.
Here is a quick video we found that explains this:
Will My Solar Power System Work During a Power Outage?
So will you lose power during a power outage if you have a grid-tied solar system?
The answer is yes, and that’s because your solar system has nowhere to store power. But therein lies the answer!
If you are looking for a solution to maintain power during a power outage, all you have to do is install solar battery storage.
Having storage batteries connected to your solar system gives you more independence from the power grid, but more importantly, the solar batteries power your home when the sun isn’t shinning when your home requires more power than your panels are producing, and will keep your home essential in full operation during a power outage.
Solar batteries can be added to an existing power system or designed as part of a new installation. For more information about solar storage batteries please contact us.
Article by
Rebecca Samson
Editor, Bio Development
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