Community Renewable Energy

Grid-Tied PV with Battery Backup

Without batteries, a Grid-tied PV system will not supply power when the electric grid is down.  It is for the safety of line-workers that PV system inverters are engineered to shut down when they do not receive input of matching voltage from the grid.  If there is a need to use the PV system as backup power in case the power lines are out, batteries should be included.

Batteries add cost and maintenance to a PV system, but can be worth it in certain applications.  For power security, or to run essential loads when grid power is unavailable, batteries can be added to a grid-tied system.  A special inverter is needed for grid-tied PV systems with batteries.