Account manager Eric Van Orden from Standard Renewable Energy answers this question for me when I sat down with him today.
This is my first interview with account manager Eric Van Orden from Standard Renewable Energy (formerly SunFlower Solar) located in Boulder Colorado.
SolarDave: If I have a grid tied solar system and the power goes out on a sunny day, do I still have limited power?
Eric Van Orden: You would not have any power, if the inverter sense no electricity coming in from the grid will essentially hold the electric current in the inverter. You will not have electricity or your lights will not be on if the grid goes down.
That is kind of a safety reason, if there is the electric current from the panels coming in the electric grid then Xcel Energy happens to be working on the grid they could potential get shocked. And there are some other reasons…mainly that is a safety issue.
A battery backup system would be a way to get around that and have reserved electricity for when the grid goes down.
SolarDave: You guys (Standard Renewable Energy) don’t do that many battery system installs?
Eric Van Orden: We do quite a few compared to the rest of the other Colorado installers, and compared to the rest of all the other installations we do it is small percentage no more that 10%. But Zeke Yewdall our chief engineer actually lived off grid until he went away to college – so he knows the ins and outs of battery backup systems.
