Extreme weather events happen every year throughout Australia, with millions of people across the nation facing the threat of wildfires, gusty winds, and torrential rain. Millions of Australians suffer from blackouts during these incidents and even more so during planned and unplanned outages of the unstable and volatile power grid. Our LG Home Battery range offers a solution to many businesses and household owners who are looking to be prepared in the case of these situations occurring.
Houses today are full of technology and electrical appliances, many of us find ourselves working from home due to COVID, technology seeps into almost every facet of our lives. Some fridges display interactive graphics, more cars are becoming electrical, most people’s hobbies require electricity to power the service in some form. The threat of blackouts across the country is an eery warning of our current dependency on the power grid and a reminder that our lifestyles and online connections can come to a halt if a blackout occurs.
From January 2020 to September 2020, Ausgrid has compiled data which has highlighted that 841,504 of their customers suffered a power interruption throughout the NSW region. As we move into summer with increasing temperatures, we can expect to see more customers facing blackouts, increasing the number to exceed 1 million affected customers across the 2020 year.
How does blackout protection work?
Having just solar panels will not provide blackout protection. To protect yourself during an outage you will need an energy storage unit whether you are on-grid or off-grid. When the power from the grid gets shut off to your home, your home battery will automatically kick in and provide electricity to power your essential appliances.
What appliances can I run during a blackout?
Typically, you would run the most important appliances, these being the fridge, lights, and charging ports. Running appliances which consume a large amount of energy is not the best approach in guaranteeing that the stored energy lasts a significant amount of time. The length of time the battery will provide backup is dependent on the amount of energy you consume, and the amount of energy stored within the battery. Therefore, you should plan ahead and ask yourself which appliances are most important and what size battery will meet your energy demands.
The LG Home Battery is not just a tool to be utilised for backup energy when the power shuts off, but it also helps homeowners to increase their energy independence, putting the control of energy creation and usage into the home owner’s hands.
Choosing the right inverter matters too.
When installing a battery, ensure that your inverter has backup capabilities. This will ensure that you can charge you battery from the solar panels even if the grid shuts down, giving you the possibility of powering your home without the need for the energy grid. If you retrofit the battery to an existing grid-connected inverter which is not backup ready, you run the risk of not being able to charge your battery from the solar panels during a blackout.
If you want blackout protection for your home, make sure to tell your installer so that the battery can be installed correctly for backup.
Over time, the benefits of the home battery grow as it helps save on electricity bills, reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, and helps you develop an income through the ability to join a virtual power plant. There are even more benefits to discover here.
Comments