A Solar System is compiled of three main components. A battery, solar panels and an inverter, which work together to form the system. This system converts energy from the suns rays into the electricity used to power your home or business.
In this section, we’ll go through what each component does.
Solar panels are black rectangular panels that are attached to your roof to harness and convert the suns rays into DC (Direct current) electricity.
An Inverter is an electrical box which receives the DC electricity from the solar panels and converters the DC electricity into AC (Alternating Current) electricity which is the kind of electricity that is used to power your home or business & is used to charge the systems batteries.
A Battery for a solar system can range vastly in different sizes depending on what needs to be powered. The Battery is charged up by either municipal electricity or the electricity you generated from your solar panels. The battery
is what stores the electricity which is used to power your house when the sun is down or when there is a power outage/load shedding.
In this section we are going to help you understand which inverter you need.
There are 3 different kinds of inverters...
Hybrid Inverter
Off-Grid Inverter
Grid-Tied Inverter
A Hybrid Inverter is the most commonly owned inverter on the South African market, this inverter is able to blend electricity from three different inputs of power. Solar panels, battery storage and the grid to provide you with an uninterrupted power supply.
One of the best features of a hybrid inverter is the ability to manage power distribution, saving produced solar energy, maximizing your ROI or simply bringing down the cost of your utilities bill.
A Hybrid system would typically produce enough power to cover your home or businesses needs however, in most cases you would still be connected to the grid for those moments when you are using more electricity than the system can produce
An Off-Grid Inverter is exactly what the name implies, it is not You see the word “Off-Grid Solar Power Kit”, and you might immediately think this is the kit for you.
But, while off the grid might sound like the best solution out there, there are some things to consider:
You will have no grid to fall back on in the event of severe weather or faults.
You will need to have an oversized battery bank to cover you for a few days in case of cloudy weather.
You will have to have a pretty extensive array to cover your usage and charge the extra battery bank.
While you might save a few grand on the inverter, we’re talking a pretty penny here for the battery bank alone. While this solution is 100% doable, it’s not ideal for us here in the ‘burbs. Use grid power when you need them, don’t cut your nose off to spite your face.
Off-Grid Kits are ideal for homes that are out in the sticks and have no other source of electricity. Also, Off-Grid Inverters work just fine for a Load Shedding Kit where you have no Solar Panels.
Additionally, Off-Grid Inverters do not blend power from all your sources. If you are not producing enough solar power to cover your usage, it will either:
Cause the whole system to trip if you have no alternative power source OR Switch over your usage from Solar Power to grid power. Meaning you’ll be wasting produced (free) solar power and using grid power instead.
Do you live out in the middle of nowhere with no grid supply? If you answered yes, then an Off-Grid kit is for you.
If you answered no, then keep reading, we have another solution for you.