[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":181},["ShallowReactive",2],{"page-\u002Fguides\u002Fno-backup-power":3,"author-mike":122},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bare":7,"body":8,"dateModified":101,"datePublished":101,"description":102,"extension":103,"howToSteps":104,"kits":104,"layout":105,"meta":106,"navigation":107,"path":108,"schemaType":109,"seo":110,"sources":111,"stem":115,"targetKeywords":116,"titleTag":120,"translationOf":104,"__hash__":121},"content\u002Fguides\u002Fno-backup-power.md","Why 'no backup power' surprises every first-time buyer","mike",false,{"type":9,"value":10},"minimark",[11,18,23,26,29,33,36,39,42,45,49,52,55,59,66,69,75,81,85,88,91,98],[12,13,14],"answer-box",{},[15,16,17],"p",{},"A plug in solar system shuts down the instant the grid goes out. Not reduced output — nothing. It's a legal requirement called anti-islanding, and it exists so that utility line workers repairing a fault aren't dealing with electricity arriving from somebody's balcony. If you want power during an outage, you want a portable power station with a backup output, which is a different product.",[19,20,22],"h2",{"id":21},"the-conversation-we-keep-having","The conversation we keep having",[15,24,25],{},"Somebody buys a panel, or is about to, and asks: so during a public safety power shutoff, I'll still have the fridge?",[15,27,28],{},"No. And the reason it's such a consistent surprise is that \"I have solar panels\" and \"I have power when the grid doesn't\" feel like they should be the same sentence. They aren't, and they aren't for rooftop solar either — a rooftop system without a battery also shuts down in an outage, which surprises those owners too.",[19,30,32],{"id":31},"why-the-rule-exists","Why the rule exists",[15,34,35],{},"Picture a street where the grid is down and a crew is repairing a transformer. They've isolated the section, confirmed it's dead, and started work.",[15,37,38],{},"Now picture a dozen homes on that street with solar quietly pushing electricity onto the same wires. The section they've isolated isn't dead. It's being energised from the customer side, and nothing at the substation would tell them.",[15,40,41],{},"That's called islanding, and preventing it is why every grid-connected inverter sold in the developed world watches the grid continuously and stops within a fraction of a second when it disappears. SB 868 requires it explicitly.",[15,43,44],{},"It's a good rule. It's also absolute — there's no override, no switch, no clever workaround, and anyone selling you one is selling you a hazard.",[19,46,48],{"id":47},"what-actually-happens-in-an-outage","What actually happens in an outage",[15,50,51],{},"The grid goes down. Within a fraction of a second, your microinverter stops. The panel is still in full sun and still producing DC, but nothing is being converted or delivered. Your home is as dark as your neighbour's.",[15,53,54],{},"When the grid comes back, the inverter waits a short interval — typically a few minutes — to confirm it's stable, then resumes. You don't do anything.",[19,56,58],{"id":57},"what-to-buy-if-you-want-backup","What to buy if you want backup",[15,60,61,65],{},[62,63,64],"strong",{},"A portable power station."," A battery in a box with its own AC outlets. It charges from the wall, or from a solar panel, or from your car. During an outage you plug things into it directly. Jackery, EcoFlow, Bluetti and others make them from around $250 for something that runs a router and some lights, up to several thousand for something that runs a fridge for a day.",[15,67,68],{},"This is a completely separate purchase from a grid-tied plug-in system and it's the right answer if backup is what you want.",[15,70,71,74],{},[62,72,73],{},"A hybrid product with a backup output."," Some battery systems have an emergency power socket that works when the grid is down. Read the specification for the words \"backup,\" \"EPS,\" or \"off-grid output.\" If those words aren't there, it doesn't do it.",[15,76,77,80],{},[62,78,79],{},"Not:"," a plug in solar system with a battery. The battery in an EcoFlow STREAM Ultra makes you money by shifting midday production to the evening peak. It does not keep your lights on in a blackout unless the product specifically says it does — and we would check that claim against the manufacturer's own specification sheet before relying on it, for any product, including that one.",[19,82,84],{"id":83},"the-honest-framing","The honest framing",[15,86,87],{},"Plug in solar is a bill-reduction appliance. It's not resilience equipment, it's not emergency preparedness, and it's not insurance against a public safety power shutoff.",[15,89,90],{},"If you want both, you buy both, and they're separate lines on the budget. What you shouldn't do is buy one expecting the other, which is what happens when a product page shows a family lighting their home during a storm.",[15,92,93],{},[94,95,97],"a",{"href":96},"\u002Fwhat-is-plug-in-solar","What plug in solar is, including the anti-islanding bit →",[99,100],"sources-block",{},"2026-09-01","Plug in solar shuts off the instant the grid does — by law, to protect line workers. Not reduced power. None. What to buy if you want backup.","md",null,"article",{},true,"\u002Fguides\u002Fno-backup-power","Article",{"title":5,"description":102},[112],{"title":113,"url":114,"accessed":101},"SB 868 bill text, anti-islanding requirement","https:\u002F\u002Fleginfo.legislature.ca.gov\u002Ffaces\u002FbillTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB868","guides\u002Fno-backup-power",[117,118,119],"does balcony solar work in a power outage","solar backup power blackout","anti-islanding explained","Balcony Solar Gives No Backup Power. Here's Why","gjGmC00WPTbeqEJp6EWqEDiE1rG1uLTVpmZ9tx152Qo",{"id":123,"title":124,"body":125,"description":172,"email":170,"extension":103,"location":173,"meta":174,"name":131,"navigation":107,"path":175,"photo":176,"role":177,"sameAs":104,"seo":178,"stem":179,"__hash__":180},"authors\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike.md","Mike",{"type":9,"value":126},[127,133,139,147,151,154,157,161,164],[15,128,129,132],{},[62,130,131],{},"Mike Yu"," is the editor of SmallSolarCo. He started it after working out that a plug-in panel was the only kind of solar available to him — he rents in Irvine with a west-facing balcony and no roof of his own — and found that nothing written about it in California was both plain and sourced.",[15,134,135,138],{},[62,136,137],{},"He is not an electrician, a solar installer, or a lawyer",", and the site says so wherever it matters. What he does is read the primary sources — bill text, CPUC filings, utility tariff sheets, UL standards, manufacturer specification sheets — and put them in one place with the arithmetic attached and a date on every claim.",[15,140,141,142,146],{},"He has a background building web products, and built the savings model here himself, using NREL irradiance data and Southern California Edison's published rates. It's published in full on ",[94,143,145],{"href":144},"\u002Fmethodology","the methodology page",", and the site's tests fail if an article and the calculator ever disagree.",[19,148,150],{"id":149},"what-this-site-does-and-doesnt-do","What this site does and doesn't do",[15,152,153],{},"It explains, catalogs, and calculates. It does not test hardware. Kit pages are built from published specifications with the date they were checked, not from a test bench, and the site says so rather than implying otherwise.",[15,155,156],{},"There is a plug-in kit on the Irvine balcony logging output, which is used to check whether the model is roughly calibrated. Figures from it are labelled measured and carry their conditions. Everything else on the site is labelled as an estimate, and there are far more estimates than measurements.",[19,158,160],{"id":159},"editorial-independence","Editorial independence",[15,162,163],{},"Affiliate commissions don't reach the savings model — it's the same arithmetic for every kit, and the current recommendation for anyone spending under $400 is a nonprofit that pays nothing. We don't accept hardware on terms that involve anyone approving coverage first. If a manufacturer sends something, the page says so.",[15,165,166,167,171],{},"Reach him at ",[94,168,170],{"href":169},"mailto:hello@smallsolarco.com","hello@smallsolarco.com",".","Mike Yu is the editor of SmallSolarCo. He started it after working out that a plug-in panel was the only kind of solar available to him — he rents in Irvine with a west-facing balcony and no roof of his own — and found that nothing written about it in California was both plain and sourced.","Irvine, California",{},"\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike","\u002Fimages\u002Fauthors\u002Fmike.jpg","Founder and editor",{"description":172},"authors\u002Fmike","2UYfVkomBje4XbTXMc-HWSa7jliDKILElV8MEZxfPVw",1788880325695]