Are residential solar panels enough to make your home resilient?

Technically, residential solar panels alone are not enough to make your home resilient. This is because solar systems generally depend on the electrical grid to produce power—and, for safety reasons, they’re designed to switch off if the grid power cuts out.

What makes solar energy a key contributor to resilience?

The second attribute that makes solar energy a key contributor to resilience is that sunlight-generated electricity can be stored and discharged without the need for fuel deliveries, unlike conventional diesel generators, which are the most common source of emergency backup power.

What makes solar a unique asset for resilience?

Two key attributes make solar a unique asset for resilience. The first is that solar generation can be distributed, as opposed to centralized. This means individual buildings can host their own solar systems to meet some or all of their power needs.

What is an example of a resilient power system?

Here is an example of a resilient power system scenario: A flood forces a local utility substation to shut down, interrupting electric service. Within seconds, residential photovoltaic (PV) solar panel systems with battery storage automatically detect the loss of grid power and switch to an “islanded” mode to keep the power on.

How can a community become more resilient?

Communities can become more resilient with advanced solar technologies. Pairing solar with storage can help make solar energy available during outages. With new grid-forming inverters, a solar-plus-storage system may be able restart the grid after disruptions if the system is large enough. Microgrids could also provide resiliency benefits.

Why is a resilient electric grid important?

When the utility company is able to restore service, these backup resources will seamlessly reconnect to the grid, ready to be used during the next incident. A completely resilient electric grid will help communities keep the power on during man-made or natural disruptions. How Does Solar Improve Resilience?