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Energy x AI's avatar

Having a household battery unfortunately isn't sufficient, depending on where you live. Australia for example has anti-islanding rules (to protect equipment and the safety of people repairing the grid) which means you need a grid-forming inverter with the capability to island your house from the grid in a blackout.

I think some people get solar/battery then get disappointed when they can't use it during a blackout, which is fair.

Pawel Czyzak's avatar

That's interesting though, when I was buying a pv system like 4 years ago, a so-called offline inverter wasn't much more expensive (maybe like 300-500 AUD), so I thought it was a no-brainer compared to the cost of the whole setup

Energy x AI's avatar

I'll admit that's cheaper than I thought but you're right. Part of the problem then might be consumer education and people not necessarily knowing what they're buying.

Unfortunately, as a renting apartment dweller I haven't had the chance to buy any such system yet!