Solar and Load Shedding: What Really Keeps the Lights On

Grid-tied: bill saver, not backup

A grid-tied system feeds power into your home when the sun is shining and pushes the excess back into the grid. When the grid goes down, so does your system. That's a safety requirement to protect the linesmen working on the network.

Hybrid: bill saver plus backup

A hybrid inverter can charge a battery from solar and switch to battery power when the grid drops. Sizing is the important part. A battery that is too small will only run a few essentials for a couple of hours. A battery that is large enough to run the whole home for an extended outage is a different price tier.

Off-grid: full independence

Off-grid setups don't connect to Eskom at all. They need enough panels and battery capacity to cover the worst week of winter, which is expensive and only makes sense for remote sites.

Where to start

We usually recommend starting with a hybrid system sized for your essentials and adding capacity later. It gives you immediate protection from load shedding, immediate savings on your bill, and a clean upgrade path.