Where is the power going?

[Boromick]

Does this make sense?

We have a 50kw system with 2 inverters and we don't have an export meter.

Last week an excavator cut the power cable feeding our building while the solar panels were working and generating at close to their max.

We lost all power from the grid and everything shut down, we were in total darkness apart from the emergency lighting.

Should our solar PV system have kept some things powered or is this normal.

I have always doubted that we are using the power we generate because we get a good return from the feed in tariff but we aren't saving on our bill's.

I have asked companies to look at it and when they do they just try to sell us an upgrade and haven't answered my concerns. An electrician has looked and said it's connected up right.

Does it sound dodgy and what should I do?

 

[Murdoch]

Most solar invertors need AC input to keep going .......... so any power cut means no solar power after about 5 seconds

 

[Sidney]

The solar invertor shutting down during mains fail is a normal operation. It's a safety feature to stop power being back fed into the supply network and engineers may well be working on the supply cables which must be dead.