What’s an Off-Grid System?
Off Grid system is simply a stand-alone electric system that can generate and store electric energy and use it without being connected to the utility grid.
It can be as small as a handheld device with a very small battery and small light source, or USB port to charge a mobile phone, and it can be large enough to power a whole neighborhood or even a small city
Off Grid Systems are best for rural areas, or areas where electricity is not stable, or very expensive to get connected to the grid
The system size should be calculated carefully to ensure continuous operation: With good design, energy produced daily is sufficient for needs without outage. This is done by properly selecting the number of solar panels, the power of the inverter, and the number and capacity of the batteries.
System components:
- Solar panels: Convert sunlight to DC electricity (Direct Current)
- Charge Controller: Converts the variable DC coming from the solar panels to a stable current and charge the batteries and control when to charge or stop
- Inverter: This is the heart of the system, it connects the storage to consumption, the inverter is the device that “inverts” the DC current to AC current (Alternting Current) that we can use in our household or power up the devices we need
- Electric accessories for installation and protective electric equipments (Fuses, Circuit Breakers, Connectors, etc..)
In many modern installations, inverters and charge controllers are packed together in one device that connect everything together: panels, batteries, and appliances. In some newer inverters, there is a possibility of running without batteries for those applications that require only powering up during the day.
