Do You Need a Generator If You Have Solar Panels? A Quick
With the rising popularity of renewable energy, many homeowners are left wondering if a generator is truly necessary when they have solar panels installed. This article
If you have a grid-tied solar energy system without a battery backup, a separate generator is a great way to ensure access to power during a local electrical outage. While traditional generators are powered by diesel, gasoline or propane, solar generators are an alternative that runs on electricity produced by your panels.
Plus, a battery can keep your solar panels running when the grid is down - something a generator cannot do. You can maximize your home's resilience against power outages by installing both a solar battery and a standby generator. Much like with solar panels, a generator and battery cannot power your home 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. Unfortunately, you cannot run your home with both solar power and generator power at the same time. In other words, the generator and the solar panels cannot operate parallel to one another.
Solar panels can't act as generators on their own – the electricity they generate needs to be stored somewhere. So, solar generators typically consist of two main products: solar panels and a battery storage system. When you place your solar panels out in the sun, they generate direct current (DC) electricity.
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