Editor

IT may come as a surprise to a number of readers that roof-fitted solar panels are totally dependent on a mains supply to enable solar generated electricity to be fed to a house.

At face value this might appear a strange statement,but if the mains electricity fails, for whatever reason, the solar array inverter will automatically disconnect the solar array from the incoming mains connection.If anyone is under the illusion the sun will come to the rescue during a power cut then they are going to be in for a shock (pun intended). The reason for tripping out the solar array is safety!The isolation of any solar generated electricity is to stop this power entering the local electricity network where engineers could be working on the system.

A similar isolation technique will be employed for a home connected wind generator, and unfortunately during a blackout, wind generation (or solar), will be totally ineffective for providing power to the home.

Therefore it is somewhat ironic that so-called environmentally friendly solar panels (or a wind generator) are totally dependent on predominantly fossil-fuelled power station generation.

Dave Haskell Brithdir Cardigan

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