How to use solar panels during a power outage?

Harry227

I imagine like most forumites who have had solar panels installed which provide 'export' capacity to the grid of any generated excess, our system shuts down during a power outage in order to protect utility worked fixing the national grid. 

Has anyone invested in, or heard of, a system that might be retrofitted to charge batteries or a power banks at home, while the grid is down?  Even a small power bank that could be used on a few items might be helpful.  Perhaps something like this 

BLUETTI AC240+B210 Power kit 2,400W 3,686Wh

The most recent substantial power outage we had was Storm Arwen a few years ago, when we were without mains electricity for about 2 weeks.  It was very frustrating looking at the redundant solar panels, especially as we had some bright, sunny days!

We do have a petrol/LPG generator, but it would be handy (and quieter) to be able to tap the power that the panels generate too.
 

powerful_Rogue

I've got a switch on my consumer unit which I can flip when there is a power cut and the house will run off the batteries. Only used it once in two years for 30 minutes.

Was already set up when we bought the house to run off a generator, so didn't take much for the installers to convert it over.

Petriix

There are systems which do what you want. Givenergy do an all in one with gateway option, otherwise there's a Tesla powerwall with a similar setup. Both are quite expensive but it's hard to quantify the usefulness of a backup until it's actually needed. You should speak to a local installer but come back here to sense check any quotes. Maybe try the green and ethical money saving board. 

QrizB

Petriix said:

There are systems which do what you want. Givenergy do an all in one with gateway option, otherwise there's a Tesla powerwall with a similar setup.

Several (but by no means all) home battery systems will do something similar.

If you neither have nor want a home battery, a second option would be to have an alternative off-grid inverter that you can connect your solar panels to on the event of an outage. This should be cheaper than a whole-house battery system but also somewhat less capable.

The Bluetti AC240 + B210 that the OP references is £2500. For £3500 you could have whole house backup from something like the Canadian Solar EP Cube:

https://www.bimblesolar.com/batteries/48vbatts/canadian-solar-batteries

Alternatively, for £2000 you could have a £900 standby off-grid inverter charger like this:

https://www.bimblesolar.com/offgrid/combined-inverter-mppt/24vinverterchargecontrollers/24v-victron-easysolar

And an £1100 7kWh 24v battery like this:

https://www.bimblesolar.com/batteries/12vbatts/24vbatts?product_id=3738

Neither of those options are as portable as the Bluetti, so you won't be taking them camping or whatever. Both offer much more effective domestic backup. The Canadian Solar bundle also lets you time-shift your electricity use and opens up savings possibilities from TOU tariffs.

Harry227

Thank you for all of this advice and excellent suggestions. Somethings to get working on, now!