
Ultimately, it’s in our best interest to work together to keep homeowners safe and equipment operating properly.Ĭontact us today to discuss how we can help.Īn overload on the transfer switch’s main breaker can only come from the load side (an overLOAD). We partner with electricians to ensure a smooth customer experience. If you need advice prior to bidding or installing a standby generator or a critical load generator, do not hesitate to contact us. If you are in our service area, we would be happy to assist you with re-integrating a solar panel interconnection with your generator installation.

There is a lot of misinformation floating around, shady solar contractors, and lack of consumer education on solar energy. These are two common consumer misconceptions that you need to be aware of when you encounter a client that has existing solar panels. Solar panels also can’t work in parallel with a generator to reduce fuel usage. It is important to note that solar panels cannot be used in a utility outage without batteries. Please watch this video for more information: Typical residential standby generators cannot. As a huge “battery” of sorts, the grid can handle this small amount of backfeed. Any time solar production exceeds loads in the building, solar inverters attempt to send power to the utility grid.

If solar inverters “see” voltage from a generator, they will attempt to sync with the generator and backfeed power to it. They must be electrically isolated at all times. The bottom line is you cannot allow solar panels and a generator to work in parallel. There are too many scenarios to explain every one, but this is the most common question we come across. Whether you are installing a new whole-home backup generator with solar panels, or whether you are adding solar panels to a home with a backup generator, this article may apply.

We have seen this time and time again, so we wanted to point out a correct way to integrate a grid-interactive solar energy system with a new whole-home generator. Warranties for generators or solar inverters can be voided by failing to take into account important factors.

Licensed electricians often don’t realize they are creating a hazardous situation that could severely damage equipment. This article is intended for our colleagues who install whole-home generators in Southwest Florida.
