Grid backup can ensure that you can access your battery, when the grid goes down.
It is one of the key benefits of having a battery, but doesn't come as standard.
There are a few different ways this is achieved, some all-encompassing others just keep essential services online.
Grid Islanding
NOTE: We do not offer this.
This is where the manufacturer will provide a piece of additional hardware, often referred to as a 'gateway' that allows the whole home to completely go off-grid. In the case of a grid outage, the gateway switches to entirely battery power, and continues to power the entire home until the grid is back up and operational.
Emergency Power Supply (EPS) or Essential Circuit
NOTE: This is what we offer.
An EPS allows for some, but not all, of the switchboard to be wired back to the inverter. It's quite literally an emergency power supply, in the case of an emergency!
Typically we suggest wiring in the essential circuits - those that you really need if the grid goes down - that tends to be things like some basic lighting, fridge/freezer, wifi (etc.).
This option is rated to the maximum power output of the inverter (6kW or 8kW depending on which inverter you choose) and fails over automatically in the event of a power failure, in less than 10ms, so it's almost unnoticeable.
If you decide to go ahead with this option, your installer will work with you to understand which circuits can be added to the EPS, and then wire it in for you. It's worth noting down which circuits are for what, ahead of the installation, so that you can more easily decide which you want wired in on the day.
Now, the really big question: is it really worth it?
Well, that's for you to decide!
But, if you don't wire in the EPS, then even if your battery is 100% charged you can't access the power.
We know that some people really want that peace of mind, and in some locations in more rural areas, it's non-negotiable.
Let's look at the numbers:
From a purely economic perspective, if you take an average household, it might only consume $5 of energy a day. Our EPS costs $650 to wire in. That means, to get a full return on investment, you'd need the site to be off line for 130x 24 hour days over the course of the 10 year warranty of the battery, to successfully pay it back. That's 13 full days a year, without power. If you think that's likely, then it's worth it.
Obviously it's not just a case of evaluating the economic value though (!) there are other factors to consider, like general peace of mind that the lights won't go out and the knowledge you can access the power you're storing, if you need it. Plus the emotional toll and impact of not having power in grid failure events.
From our perspective, it really doesn't matter which way your product is installed - it's all the same to us and we'll be delighted to arrange either way for you.