In article
,
" wrote:

On Apr 23, 9:52*am, wrote:
On Sat, 23 Apr 2011 05:22:41 -0700 (PDT), "

wrote:
I was also not really that excited about the grid tie because if the
power is out, all of that generating power on your roof is out too.
The grid tie inverters only work when the grid is present.

That'a a real kick in the ass too, ain't it? * I was quite surprised
about
that when I first learned it. *I bet most people don't even realize it
works that way. *I wonder what the core issue is here and why
they haven't figured out a way around it?

I haven't tried it but I was wondering if you had a small battery
excited inverter on the "generator" side of a transfer switch if it
would trick your grid tie solar inverter into turning on.

Don't know, but if would first be good to know what the reason
is that the normal PV arrays aren't allowed to power the house
when the grid is down.

Anit-islanding, as has been mentioned. It is a bit ironic that you could
spend $30,000 for your own power system and still be dependent on the
grid, but that's the standard model.

I suspect it's to avoid issues like a
cloud comes by and suddenly without the grid the house
would start to brown out, possibly causing damage to
motors, etc. I guess it could just cut off the power at that
point, but then you'd have intermittent power which would
be a PIA. It would be frustrating to spend $35K on a system
and not have it able to supply power if a storm knocks
down power lines.