Solar Power World May 2021 Digital Edition is sponsored by CPS North America | Chint Power Global

Reconnecting while going off-grid

The irony of publishing an issue of Solar Power World focused on off-grid solar at this moment in time isn’t lost on me. We’re at a point in the progression of the pandemic where every adult in the United States is eligible for vaccination. That means safer gatherings among other vaccinated people and opening our social lives, emerging gradually from a year of cabin fever. And now, Kelly, Kelsey and I just wrote a set of stories about a market that’s commonly associated with packing everything up and moving to the woods.

Of course, anyone familiar with the off-grid market knows that isn’t always the case. Sure, people still want to live transient lives and outfit a van with a foldout mattress and throw flexible solar panels on the roof, but that isn’t their only use. Storage technologies don’t have to be a backup in case the grid goes out — they can be your primary energy source when the sun goes down, even on a huge home. And inverters — those hardworking components actually converting sunlight and making it usable electricity — can work under the rough conditions of off-grid sites.

Off-grid solar is a market that hasn’t gotten a lot of coverage in SPW, so we learned quite a bit while writing these. As both solar and storage technologies improve, I think we can expect there to be more folks choosing to split from the grid entirely.

In addition to this wealth of off-grid info we’ve got in here, there’s also an entire special section dedicated to operations and maintenance with contributed stories straight from the experts to help keep your arrays running.

As we weather the side effects of vaccinations and come out immunized, let’s try to remember our social cues from before lockdown. Walk out of your home, let your eyes adjust to the sunlight and responsibly enjoy each other’s company for the first time in a while. We hope to see you soon.

Billy Ludt
Associate Editor
bludt@wtwhmedia.com
@SolarBillyL
@SolarPowerWorld