With the recent economic uncertainty, many people have been buying land, vacation cabins, and lake homes.
This is a wonderful option, if you have it! These remote places can serve as amazing, reliable getaways that will always be there for you and your family.
Many folks want to set up their vacation spots for money-saving solar power. Another popular option now is to go completely off-grid. But this is not quite as simple as it sounds…
You can’t just install a few solar panels and go off the grid!
So, what does going off-grid really mean? We’ll take a look at how to go off the grid in this post. And, if you’re wondering how to go off-grid with solar power specifically, we’ll talk about that, too.
Solar Sam is here to help you achieve your getaway dreams. In this post, we’ll debunk common myths associated with going off-grid with solar. We’ll also address the three things you MUST have to go off the grid with solar panels.
This info will apply to your vacation cabin, home, farm, and business. Let’s jump right in!
What Does It Mean to Go Off-Grid?
Going off-grid, or going off the grid, essentially means that your home, business, or farm is not connected to the local utility power grid. Your property is self-sustaining and generates enough electricity from alternative energy sources to cover your power needs without being connected to a utility power line.
To achieve going off the grid, you can use wind, solar, hydro, and other alternative sources of power, or any combination that works best for your property and needs. And, despite the remote cabin you may think of when we say “off grid”, you can actually go off grid anywhere—in the middle of nowhere or in the middle of the city!
With solar power, though, this isn’t quite as simple as it sounds. You can’t just install a few solar panels and disconnect completely from the power grid! And if there is no utility electric line available, you can’t just slap up a solar array and have all the power you need. But why not?
Let’s look at how to go off-grid with solar.
How to Go Off-Grid with Solar
While there may be some allure to going completely off the grid and roughing it for a few days, we bet your family would prefer to have their modern comforts! One way to do that is to go off the grid with solar.
The biggest myth around going off-grid with solar is that you only need solar panels to produce energy. You do, indeed, need a solar energy system that is big enough to handle your electricity production needs.
But you also need a way to store excess power for those times when your solar system isn’t producing (like at night).
You may also need to change the way you think about electricity consumption. To better accommodate your off-grid power system’s capabilities, you may need to alter when and how much power you use. That’s not to say that you’ll have to cut down significantly on the power you use or go without, but you may want to be more conscientious about your usage in relation to what your system can handle.
The 3 things you’ll need to go off-grid with solar:
- A solar array or panel system that will produce the amount of energy you need
- A solar off-grid inverter and charge controller
- A solar battery storage system
You may also want or need a solar generator.
Why You Need a Solar Battery Storage System to Go Off the Grid
Without a solar battery system, you won’t be able to store excess power for when you need it and the times your system isn’t producing enough to meet demand. In other words, you won’t be able to disconnect from the grid without solar batteries.
Check out our recent blog for Always On: Top 3 Reasons to Install a Solar Battery System, plus more on the best solar battery backups and how to choose.
Solar Sam Is Here for You (On and Off the Grid)
Whether you’re an agricultural, commercial, or residential customer, when you’re ready to buy a battery-ready solar system to go off the grid with solar, contact us! At Solar Sam, you’re part of the family, and we take care of our Solar Sam fam.
We offer the latest tech, the hottest brands, and solid off-grid solutions. Solar Sam is here to help power your life (on or off the grid) with energy run by the sun!
