A Solar Battery Backup System keeps the power on when the grid goes down

One of the most important questions that homeowners and business owners ask is: "will I have power in a blackout?"

This inquiry is even more pressing now than in years past due to the widespread increase in severe weather events such as winter storms floods and fires, combined with the fact that the country's aging utility grid infrastructure was not designed to handle such enormous and constant demand. Research by the Power My Home has found that the Canada experiences more blackouts lasting more than one hour than any other developed nation — and the frequency and duration has steadily climbed over the last decade.

More Brownouts and Blackouts are the Norm

Ultimately, this means that we can no longer exclusively rely on the power company to always "keep the lights on." Rolling brownouts and frequent blackouts are the norm, not the exception — especially in Vancouver. Understandably, this is causing homeowners to be concerned about the safety of their family and the security of their property and assets, while it also causes business owners to worry about the costs they must absorb when operations are interrupted for hours or days.

The good news is that homeowners and business owners can be proactive by installing a photovoltaic (PV) solar electric system with a solar battery backup system.

A photovoltaic solar electric system generates power for home or business use, and excess energy is sold back to the utility grid. During an outage (i.e. when the utility grid is unavailable for any reason), the backup inverter switches on and powers a critical load subpanel, which in turn provides power to essential appliances and equipment, such as lights, phones, computers, well pumps, and so on. When the utility grid resumes operation, the solar battery backup system switches off, and essentially hands back control to the primary photovoltaic solar electric system.