Do Solar Panels Work in a Power Outage?
Is there anything more inconvenient than a power outage? Your lights go out, you can’t charge your phone or run your air conditioner, all the food in your fridge goes to waste—the list goes on. And, if you have medication that needs to be refrigerated or medical equipment that runs on electricity, a power outage is truly dangerous.
Solar panels can provide a reliable source of backup power for your home, but they’ll only work during a power outage if you have solar batteries.
Grid-Tied Solar Panels Shut Down During a Power Outage
Most residential solar energy systems are tied to the electric grid, which allows electricity to flow from the grid to the home and from the home to the grid. The bi-directional flow of electricity is how net metering works, but during a power outage, it creates a safety hazard. An unexpected surge of power coming into the grid from your solar system could injure utility workers and damage equipment. To prevent injury and damage, all grid-tied solar panel systems are automatically shut down during a blackout.
Solar Panel + Battery Systems Stay ON During a Power Outage
If you want to use grid-tied solar during a power outage, you need solar battery storage. Solar batteries give your PV panels a place to store the excess electricity they generate on-site, instead of exporting it to the electric grid. This allows your system to disconnect from the grid during a power outage and operate in “island mode” until the grid is back up and running.
Installing battery storage is the only way to keep your solar panels working in a blackout. It will add to the upfront cost of your Arizona solar installation, but in the end it’s worth it. With solar panels and battery storage, you’ll get reliable backup power for your home and you’ll never have to worry about power outages again.
Power Outages Don’t Affect Off-Grid Solar Systems
If you never want to think about the electric grid again, off-grid solar power is the solution. An off-grid system will generate and store 100% of the electricity you use on-site, without any interference from the electric grid. Your solar panels will not be connected to the grid and you won’t have to worry about grid failures impacting your power supply.
Check out our Beginner’s Guide to Off-Grid Solar to learn more about going off-grid.
Get 24/7 Backup Power for Your Home with SouthFace Solar & Electric
SouthFace Solar & Electric is the leading solar installation company in Arizona for grid-tied and off-grid solar. We install premium solar panel and battery systems, and we also install whole-home generators for even greater energy source security. We can help you decide whether solar batteries or generators are right for your home so you can get backup power and peace of mind.
If you’re ready to say goodbye to power outages and take control of your own energy security, we are here to help. We can help you take advantage of solar incentives like the new 30% federal solar tax credit for solar panels and batteries.
