Frustrated with electricity blackouts? Thinking of becoming energy-independent? Could Solar be the answer?
Prolonged power outages
Parts of Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria have faced extensive and prolonged power outages with some people unable to access electricity from the grid for days. At the time of writing, “Nearly 10 000 Victorian homes remain without power after devastating storms”, writes ABC News (AU). As extreme weather becomes increasingly common, you can mitigate the risk of loosing power by choosing a solar power system with battery and blackout protection.
Backup protection
Some solar & battery systems have a “Backup” capability for supplying power to essential circuits during a grid outage. Providing this capability involves extra electrical work and the addition of specific components when designing the system. Battery backup is not always included in solar power and battery quotes, so be sure to ask.
If your Solar & Battery system does have Backup included, the amount of time for which your backup power lasts depends on a few factors:
Battery capacity
Residential batteries usually range in size between 5kWh up to 30kWh.
Battery State-of-Charge
The Capacity of the battery when an outage occurs. For example, a 10kWh battery at 50% SOC (State Of Charge) when the grid outage occurs, means only 5kWh of energy is available for backup power.
Black-Start Capability
Not all systems can “Black-Start” - i.e. the solar inverter is unable to stay operational during a grid outage. This means no solar power would be available during a grid outage, and backup power would be available from the battery only (until depleted).
For example, most ‘AC-coupled’ batteries are single-phase, and cannot “Black-Start” a three-phase solar inverter.
However, some Solar & Battery systems can “Black-Start” and backup power can be supplied from both battery and solar. Black-start capability allows longer-lasting backup power because the battery can discharge and recharge from solar as many times as needed until the grid outage is over.
Power Consumption
The more power used, the faster your battery will become depleted. For this reason, we recommend backing up only essential circuits to avoid draining the battery too quickly during a grid outage. Backing up too many circuits and drawing too much power can also exceed the backup power output capability of the battery and/or inverter, causing the system to trip (turn off).
Conclusion
In Conclusion, different systems have different backup capabilities. Before investing in a Solar & Battery system, be sure to ask your solar company questions about the backup capability of the system. The last thing you want is to be left without power when you need it.
To enquire about solar power with blackout protection from Solargain, just fill in your details in the form below. We have 23 locations across WA, QLD, VIC, ACT, NSW, and SA, and we are NetCC Approved Sellers. With 18 years in solar, you know you can rely on us now and in the years to come.
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