Blackouts in Belgium, pitfalls & solutions

Major pitfalls:

• people say: ‘we have PV panels, so we do not have to worry‘: this is not correct as blackouts or power downs will happen during the winter period and in the evening time….. when the electricity production from PV is ‘0’…..
• people say: ‘we install a battery connected to our PV panels‘: installing a battery can be a solution to solve the problem (within some limits), but connecting it to the PV is not solving the problem. First of all because for private homes with a connection to the power grid of below 10 kW, the ‘grid’ is the battery as the elektricity meter turns in both directions. The only problem with ‘this battery’ is that is down when the grid is down. On top, if the battery is ‘as such’ connected to the PV installation, so behind the inverter from the grid point of view, it will be automatically switched off when the grid goes down as this is  the regulation with grid connected inverters …. So in case when it is needed, the battery cannot put his energy to the home electricity network.
• installing a fuel powered generator: this can be a solution but, it cannot be simply installed ‘in house’; as fumes and emission gasses are produced during functioning and oxygen is being consumed, so it needs to be installed outside or connected to the chimney. One may also not forget to put enough fuel in the tank, change the ignition spark plugs once in a while because they could have issues after a long time of inactivity and have a limited lifetime. Such generators produce greenhouse gasses and are extremely noisy, …. so not really the best solution.

Solution:

Installation of a ‘stand alone electricity storage system’ is the best solution! With special technology and installation expertise, it might be connected directly to the PV installation but this is not required for small (<10 kW) installations. Of course, this ‘system’ is more than a ‘battery’. It is a box that contains batteries (Li-Ion or gel type Lead Acid), with a charger & discharger, a bi-directional DC-AC inverter and a management system both for controlling the batteries and the electricity flow. Our domestic electricity storage systems can be self-installed with the help of an ‘ease of use’ installation manual or can be installed by our professional technicians.

For non-domestic purposes or when higher power and larger energy contents are required, customized systems are calculated, engineered and installed, using different technologies.

for more information, contact EneRa