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Residential solar panels work by taking energy absorbed from the sun and converting it into usable electricity for a home. In a given day, a correctly sized system will generate far more electricity than you could reasonably use – feeding all excess electricity back into the local power grid.
But of course, this demands the question – what happens to your solar panels if the power goes out in your neighborhood? The answer to this question depends on a few key factors.
Blackouts and Solar Panels: What You Need to Know?
Exactly what will happen to your solar panel system during a blackout will depend largely on what type of system you have in the first place.
If your solar panels are tied directly to the local electrical grid, they still need to adhere to all utility rules – meaning that they will not generate electricity if the power goes out. The systems have a mechanism in place that allows them to automatically detect these conditions, thus powering down on their own. This is done to protect the utility workers who may be operating in your area, trying to get the power restored to the neighborhood.
The only exception to this is if your system is tied to a solar battery located somewhere on your property. In that case, the panels themselves obviously won’t be working during a power outage – but the system will draw excess power from the battery to continue to provide your home with electricity as long as it is able to. If the power in your area only goes out for a few hours and your battery was full, the chances are high that you won’t even realize anything happened at all – much to the admiration of all your neighbors who are sitting in the dark.
This is why solar batteries are always recommended for residential solar systems – they give homeowners the maximum flexibility they deserve in terms of what happens to all of that excess power they’re generating on a daily basis.
If you’d like to find out more information about what happens to solar panels during a blackout, or if you have any other important questions that you’d like to get more specific answers to, please don’t delay – contact SunVision Solar today.