If you’ve ever experienced a power outage in your area, you must know your struggles to keep up with when you get through the day. This inconvenience can even lead to health hazards when working in the dark. Darkness can also give rise to crime. How can you overcome these unwanted blackouts?
According to studies, the production of solar energy worldwide is 843.9 terawatts, an increase of 22% over the last two years. Let us guide you on how solar power can help change these unexpected cycles. Solar energy can provide your family with comfort and assurance so that in the event of a blackout, you and your family don’t have to worry.
Do Solar Panels Work In Blackouts
The answer is no. Solar panels lose their electrical source from the grid when a blackout occurs, thus leaving them stranded and unable to work. Now, this may seem like the argument isn’t on the side of solar power, but there are a few things we first need to understand about how solar panels work.
Solar panels absorb sunlight into photovoltaic cells that pass the energy to each other until it reaches the wires that lead to the electrical grid. Depending on how you installed solar panels, a company must associate with your electricity.
The solar panels are connected to an electrical grid that stores excess solar energy in the grid. This storage allows solar energy users to take power from the electrical company in the form of credits, thus helping the homeowners use electricity during a blackout or the night.
How do Solar Panels Work
When using solar panels during a power outage, the above content may have left you wondering how the solar panels work. Solar panels use the stored form of solar energy to generate electricity during blackouts.
There are two primary sources of clean energy reserves you can receive excess energy from:
- Net metering
- Solar batteries
Net metering is where the excess solar energy is transferred directly to the power grid of the local electric company. The energy is then credited to solar panel users when the solar panel is not in use.
Solar batteries are energy collection appliances that collect the excess energy from solar panels instead of letting it get transferred onto the electrical grid of the local electricity company. This means the power isn’t credited to you; therefore, you don’t have to clear any bills when you use energy from the stored solar batteries.
Solar Panel Backups
Here are a few examples of backup energy alternatives through which you can use solar energy by:
1. Backup Gas Generator
Not having solar panel installments doesn’t mean you should do your work in the dark. By investing in a backup gas generator, you will be using the burning of fossil fuel to get light back in the house, but when it’s essential, it is better to use an option one way or another.
With the help of a generator, you can outlast the power outage from the grid and even help your neighbors do so.
2. Solar Batteries
Solar batteries are part of the installments of solar panels. These store the excess energy collected from the solar panels into a separate component from which you can use the extra point to light up your house and even power your appliances, depending on the amount of energy your solar panels collect.
Solar batteries are also being developed constantly, from having a sleek design to collecting and storing an improved amount of energy and providing efficiency along the way.
3. Solar powered Generators
Due to the incredible range of solar batteries, another good option to store excess solar energy is using solar-powered generators. These generators provide the same pros and cons as their solar battery counterpart.
However, they can also not charge by solar panels when the solar panels are connected to the grid during a power outage. But when the power comes back, so does their ability to set and provide ample electricity, therefore being perfect for shorter power outage durations.
4. Replace Inverter
Solar inverters come in handy when the solar panels are required to change from the grid to their energy source, which can be anything from a battery to a generator. It should have enough power to run a solar panel of varying sizes.
The SMA sunny boy inverter allows the solar panel to switch whenever a power outage occurs. Another example of a converter known as Enphase Ensemble enables the solar panel to give grid-agnostic solar energy to help power your home.
Conclusion
If you’ve gone solar, or plan to, it is important to know how solar panels work and the many connecting sources that can help keep you safe during a blackout. You can’t always rely on the grid, so having backup options can further increase your chances of saving energy.
