What to do with surplus solar power in an island solution? (lemy.lol)

submitted 2 days ago by greenbelt@lemy.lol to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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What happens if the sun shines onto your solar panels, and you have too much power. I guess you could cover the panels with a blanket in such a case, but that would be manual intervention ....

Do you need to consume all electric power you generate? Ways of wasting power include ... heating water or electrostatics.

Most people would put surplus power they produce into the grid, but this is connected to government / cooperate regulations and paperwork, some would like to avoid that.

An island solution with solar panels is not connected to the power grid at all...

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[-] hansolo@lemmy.today 13 points 2 days ago

IRL, when commercial solar plants produce more than demand, they ground out the surplus. Just shoot it into the ground. Commercial plants don't have easy ways to store power.

The easiest option for you is to pump water uphill into a tank.

this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2026

37 points (95.1% liked)

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