Anti-islanding protection is a mandatory safety feature that is built into all grid-tied and hybrid solar power systems. But what does it mean for a solar system to be islanding or anti-islanding?
Islanding and Anti-islanding
Islanding is referred to when a solar system or other distributed generator continues to feed power even though there has been a failure on the electrical grid. Islanding is dangerous due to the circuit still being “live”, meaning utility workers who are working to fix the grid failure will be in danger if contact is made.
The anti-islanding feature of a solar power system provides the inverter with the ability to detect power outages such as grid failure, shutting itself down to prevent sending any electricity to the grid.
Black Out Protection
Unfortunately, there is a misconception that a solar power system will continue to power a household throughout grid-failure and in some cases, this is the selling point as to why someone may choose to install a solar power system.
While there are nonstandard inverters available that can keep your household powered through grid-failure, these specialised inverters will increase the upfront cost of a solar power system substantially and will require you to add battery storage so your solar system can store excess energy for the household to use during the grid failure.
These specialised inverters isolate the household from the grid, so no danger is posed to utility workers.
