The power is out, but I have solar, why are the lights out?

The Standard Solar energy systems installed are "Grid Tied Solar". This means your solar energy system converts power produced from the Solar Panels to power just like your utility supplies. The system then connects into your standard wiring and supplies power to your house. You are now considered a "generator" of electricity.

If you produce more electricity than you use, the power has to go somewhere. For these systems, the power goes backwards out the electric lines.

In an outage, somewhere between the utility and you, is a disconnected line. If your solar energy system stays connected, it could shock or kill an electrical worker. UL 1741 states you must disconnect solar from the utility if the power goes out. Most grid-tied inverters simply disconnect, and you lose everything.

Mi-Grid is different. It is a battery based Solar energy system. It only connects to the utility if its batteries are depleted. Most of the time you are actually OFF THE GRID. What happens if the power goes out? Most of the time, you'll never know!!! If you ARE on utility power? First you are switched back to the batteries so fast you might not even notice the lights flicker. Then the generator starts up. Once it is ready, you're switched to generator power. The generator recharges the batteries and then switches off. All of this is automatic and again, so fast you may never even know it happened, until your neighbor come over and complain about the outage!