Electrical power failure can cause great annoyance to homeowners. No lights, no computer and in some cases a shower without hot water can force you to wait hours or days until the power comes back on. Without some sort of backup generator you have no control when finding yourself in a situation without power. If you have or are considering adding solar panels to your home, installing a solar battery backup can allow you to access stored electricity when power is not available from the grid.
Working with the Electric Grid
At Premo Solar, your local solar company, we install cost-effective solar systems that tie into the grid and allow you to transfer excess power that you generate back to the grid, providing you credits to your PG&E account. Because you are tied to the grid solar panels alone cannot supply energy to your home in the event of a blackout. A misunderstanding about how solar panel systems work can make homeowners think it keeps homes powered no matter what. A solar battery is required to store the energy produced by your solar panel system that you can then utilize the second you lose power from the grid. Grid outages can occur on a routine schedule, but many times happen without any warning.In areas where power outages happen often, a solar battery backup provides an excellent alternative. When you lose power during a heavy storm, wildfires or blackout, batteries provide emergency to power your critical devices and appliances.
Accessing Stored Power with Solar
Solar batteries are not only used to prevent blackouts but can also be used to further improve the economics of solar energy. Time-of-use electricity rates charged by PG&E means pulling electricity from the grid in the evening when you most need it is more expensive than any other time of day. A battery allows you to store electricity during the day when it’s cheap and pull from the battery at night. A properly sized solar+storage system should allow you to store enough energy during the day so you won’t need to pull from the grid during expensive peak times after the sun sets. When you want to use more power than your panels can supply, such as at night or late in the day, batteries can provide the energy you need. Premo Solar, your Monterey Bay area solar installers, are here to help!
