Last updated on November 18, 2022
When you’d like to save money on your electricity bills, solar panels are a great option. During the day, they use sunlight to generate electricity and power your home, which, in turn, brings about significant savings. In fact, despite a quite significant initial investment, your solar system could end up paying for itself over time.
But now you’ve probably wondered if your solar system will work during a blackout. Here, the simple answer is that it generally won’t, but there are some things you can do to make sure that you can use your solar system when the grid is off.
In this post, we’ll look at why your system won’t work when the grid is off and how you can use your system in a blackout.
Why Solar Panels Won’t Work in a Blackout
When using solar panels, you’ll use sunlight to generate electricity that powers your lights and appliances. The thing is, when you generate more electricity than you use, your solar system will push any excess electricity into the grid. This creates a problem when there’s a blackout and, as such, your solar panels shouldn’t work when the grid is off.
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Safety of Power Line Technicians
Firstly, when there’s a blackout, technicians might be working on the lines to address a problem. Typically, when doing this, they’ll work on the assumption that there is no current in the lines. Unfortunately, when your system pushes excess electricity into the grid, this assumption will be wrong. As a result, these technicians will be exposed to a significant risk of injuries or even death.
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Prevention of Further Infrastructure Damage
Apart from the safety issue, there’s also a technical issue when your system pushes excess electricity into the grid during a blackout. When this happens, it could damage the grid hardware, especially when the power comes back on. For this reason, your solar panels shouldn’t work during a blackout in order to prevent infrastructure damage.
How to Use Solar Panels in a Blackout
Now, you’ve probably seen some homes with solar panels that have lights on when there’s a blackout. How is this possible when your solar system won’t work while the grid is off? The simple answer is that these homes either have off-grid systems or their installations allow them to use their solar system during a blackout. Let’s look at what you’ll need to do this.
- Solar Batteries
The first thing you’ll need is solar batteries. These batteries typically store any excess electricity, which you can then use when there’s no sunlight. For example, they will store electricity during the day and allow you to use the saved power during the evening. However, these batteries can also be used to provide electricity when there are blackouts and, by implication, your solar panels are off.
- Blackout Protection
To use your batteries when the grid is off, they’ll need to offer blackout protection. You’ll also need to use a hybrid inverter. Combined, this will automatically switch your solar system to battery power when there’s a blackout without pushing any electricity into the grid.
Conclusion
There you go, now you know why your solar system won’t work when there’s a blackout. More importantly, you know what you need to use your system when the grid is off. To learn more about solar systems and the benefits they offer, get in touch with one of the solar panel installers in your area.
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