Off-Grid

Off-Grid

The Off-Grid Solar Inverter has been around for many years, and when Solar Advice opened its doors back in 2016, Off-Grid Inverters, like Voltronic’s Axpert Inverter and Growatt Off-Grid Inverters, were our top sellers.

Over the years, some successful and non-successful Off-Grid inverters have entered the market and quickly disappeared. This is primarily due to the newer Hybrid Inverters.

These entry level Off-Grid Solar Inverter prices were the main reason for mass interest in these types of solar power inverters, and back then, we didn’t have many other options.

To learn more about Solar Inverters, read our complete guide which you can find in the menu above.

Today, we have Hybrid Inverters that have power blending capabilities, which means that should you not be producing enough solar power to support your usage, the Hybrid will pull the deficit from the Grid or your Solar Batteries.

The Off-Grid does not do this. If your usage exceeds your production, the Off-Grid will completely switch over to grid supply which is not ideal as you will be wasting your freely produced solar power, and you’re back to paying Eskom for electricity.

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Load Shedding Application

While it may seem that we put a lot of emphasis on the wonderful Hybrid Inverter, the Off-Grid Inverters still have a place within our South African market: Load Shedding Kits.

The Off-Grid inverters may not have the same features as the Hybrid, but they work wonderfully within a Load Shedding Kit, which consists of a solar inverter, solar battery and no solar panels.

If you have no plans on adding solar panels later and just want coverage during load shedding, then why spend more money on a Hybrid Inverter if you can have a more affordable Off-Grid Inverter?

You don’t need the blending feature of the Hybrid or the multiple MPPTs because you won’t be connecting an array.

Having said all of this, you can still connect an array to these solar inverters.

If your electricity bill or usage is small enough, installing an Off-Grid system with a few panels will most definitely see you through. And, you’ll still be using your produced solar power when full coverage is available.

It’s also worth mentioning that you will need to have a battery bank with an Off-Grid Inverter.

Going off the grid

When Load Shedding kicks in, we sympathise with the desperate and sometimes angry people who phone Solar Advice. It is not easy running a household or business without power.

This frustration sees some people declaring, “I want to be completely off the grid!” and we get it. However, going completely off the grid will give you no backup power, for instance, during a cloudy, rainy week. Having a grid connection is not a bad thing.

Being completely off-grid means having a more extensive than average array and huge battery bank to ensure you are prepared for low production days. Batteries are the most expensive part of a kit, so you will be paying a significant amount upfront. While this may be feasible to some, it will not be doable for a great deal of our population.

Use grid supply when you need it instead of relying on it entirely.