It’s a different story for those who do live somewhere with unreliable access to grid power. It costs thousands of dollars and most places in the U.S.
Then the generator will kick in.īelow, solar expert William White discusses pairing solar generators and batteries with solar systems.ĭo you really even need backup power with your solar panels?įor most homeowners, installing backup power with your solar panels probably isn’t necessary. When the power goes out, the solar battery will power your home first until it is depleted.
Much like with solar panels, a generator and battery cannot power your home at the same time. You can maximize your home's resilience against power outages by installing both a solar battery and a standby generator. Plus, a battery can keep your solar panels running when the grid is down - something a generator cannot do. If you’re looking to have access to emergency backup power for a day or two that can power your most important loads (like your fridge, lights, and wall outlets to charge electronic devices), and you also want to reduce your day-to-day reliance on the utility, then a solar battery is a better choice.Īnother benefit to solar batteries is that you can use them daily to maximize the amount of solar energy your home uses. Generators also tend to be cheaper than a solar battery storage system.
Whether a generator or a solar battery is best for you really depends on the reasons why you want to install a backup system in the first place.Ī standby generator is best if you live somewhere that regularly experiences multi-day power outages and you want to be able to power your entire home, as generators offer more power than a solar battery can. Instead of buying a generator, you can install a solar battery to provide backup power to your home in the event of an outage. Is a standby generator or solar battery system better for you? Your solar installer or a certified electrician will be able to help you figure out the best (and safest) way to do this. The panels and generator just need to be wired properly so that the two won’t interfere with one another. There are many homes that have both solar panels and generators, especially when it comes to off-grid systems. This doesn’t mean you can’t have a standby generator if you have solar, or that you can’t get solar if you already have a standby generator installed. Plus, the energy generators produce isn’t powerful enough to boot up most solar inverters anyway. Similarly, if the panels remained on, they would send feedback to the generator and thereby cause damage to the generator, the solar system, or both. Like we said earlier, solar panels send feedback to the grid, creating a dangerous scenario for utility repair workers. In other words, the generator and the solar panels cannot operate parallel to one another. Unfortunately, you cannot run your home with both solar power and generator power at the same time. Here’s the deal - even if you have a standby generator hooked up to your home, your solar panels aren’t going to turn on when the grid is down. Do solar panels and generators work together? There are multiple types of whole-home generators that run on different types of fossil fuels, including natural gas, gasoline, diesel, and propane. The generator’s automatic transfer switch, or ATS, is able to detect a power outage and then immediately switches your home’s power source from the grid to the generator. Some popular standby generator manufacturers include Generac, Kohler, and Cummins. Often referred to as ‘standby generators’, these large generators are able to backup entire homes for extended periods of time. Before we get into how generators and solar work together, let’s go over some basics about whole-home backup generators.