heat wave + power outage

[WLachnit]

maybe not in the winter. you need to run your heater.

so for people with solar, do you continue to get power even if pge is out during time with sunlight?
is the power enough to power everything in the house? fridge, your tank, maybe also AC?

When power is out, you don't have power from solar because the power generated goes (sold) to PG&E and then you buy it back from PG&E.

 

[d0ughb0y]

When power is out, you don't have power from solar because the power generated goes (sold) to PG&E and then you buy it back from PG&E.

ok, I did not know that.
do you sell it for pennies then buy it back at full price?
what if you have batteries?

anyone running a system completely off the grid?

 

[JVU]

Some common solar inverters have the ability to manually divert from the grid to an outlet to run critical systems (like fish tank!) when the grid is down. But the default is to have your solar system go down when the grid is down. There is a option for any system to get a separate inverter to automatically send power from your solar to your home when the grid goes down, but costs more.

The most complete option to use your solar when the grid goes down is to have battery backups tied in to your home, which I am having installed right now.

Regarding the buying/selling issue raised, PGE gives credit at full retail pricing for the electricity put into their system beyond what your home uses, up to the break-even point on your bill, at which it goes to wholesale pricing which is much less. This is mandated in California, not sure about other states.


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[d0ughb0y]

Some common solar inverters have the ability to manually divert from the grid to an outlet to run critical systems (like fish tank!) when the grid is down. But the default is to have your solar system go down when the grid is down. There is a option for any system to get a separate inverter to automatically send power from your solar to your home when the grid goes down, but costs more.

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by solar go down when grid is down, do you mean power generated by solar panel is not getting sold to pge? or do you mean you get no power in the house? curious, if the power line got severed, will your meter still run backwards?

 

[JVU]

In the standard solar setup, it is best to think of your solar system as part of PGE's generation network and you separately get power from PGE. So if PGE's grid goes down, you get no power, from your panels or otherwise. With regard to your specific question, I'm pretty sure that when the grid is down it is down in both directions so you are also not getting any credit for your production.


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[d0ughb0y]

ok, thanks. I misunderstood WLachnit post to mean solar power is sold to pge while grid is down.

that's such a waste if grid is down. When power went down Sunday, the sun was nice and bright.

 

[Yam]

Pretty sure its for safety reasons. If the power goes out, they don't want power coming from solar panels to electrocute the guy making repairs...

 

[swayd]

So, the heat wave took out my AC last night in Dublin. I know it's not as bad as losing all power but I tried to schedule an appointment with an HVAC company and they said 2-3 weeks at some shops to even have a tech come out and take a look. Looking into a fan as we speak.

 

[tmantaylor18]

So, the heat wave took out my AC last night in Dublin. I know it's not as bad as losing all power but I tried to schedule an appointment with an HVAC company and they said 2-3 weeks at some shops to even have a tech come out and take a look. Looking into a fan as we speak.

Yep, surface cooling works wonders. That and changing your lighting schedule to night-late night when the windows are open is a good idea too.

 

[scuzy]

I guess I can run these with my chiller.

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[WLachnit]

LED lights are nothing like my old metal halides when it came to adding extra heat to my tank.


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