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We rely on power in our everyday lives, so the need for reliable, resilient power is essential. As our society’s power demands grow, ensuring reliable power is becoming challenging, especially in the winter. Even when we think our power infrastructure is reliable, it can fail when faced with harsh winter weather. In the Texas winter storm in February 2021, the electric grid failed, leaving 4.5 million Texans without power in freezing temperatures. We need to ensure our power infrastructure is reliable and resilient, especially in the face of increasingly unpredictable weather patterns. Smart Off-Grid solar power provides optimal performance for resilient winter power. 

As discussed in our previous blog on the 6 Biggest Off-Grid Energy Myths, there is a major misconception about the reliability of off-grid renewable power sources. One popular belief about solar power is that when the sun isn’t shining, you don’t have power. So, solar power is expected to be ineffective during the winter season when there are fewer hours of sunlight. It’s also believed that batteries are ineffective during cold temperatures, making off-grid power systems unreliable in winter months and that snow and ice can cover renewable power generators like solar panels rendering them useless for much of the winter.

These things can affect an off-grid power system; however, just because the days are shorter in the winter, it may snow on the solar panels or batteries can be affected by the cold, doesn’t mean we can’t rely on solar power as an effective energy source in the winter months. It just requires smart, management of the power generation and usage to maximize the available power, so solar power is a highly reliable power resource any time of the year.

Solar power is generated throughout the day and stored in the system’s batteries for use when it is needed at night. With Smart Off-Grid technology, this power generation and usage can be actively managed. Smart Off-Grid systems are transitioned to specific power consumption settings for the winter, known as the system’s winter profile. For a streetlight application, the system’s winter profile will be set to manage the brightness of the lights during non-peak hours to conserve energy and maintain power availability throughout the shorter days in the winter.

The winter profile is designed based on an analysis of the energy generation patterns of the site’s location using historical weather data. The energy analysis provides insight into how the system will operate and how it will need to be managed throughout the winter. 

In addition, Smart Off-Grid makes it easy to manage power on an ongoing basis and make necessary adjustments to ensure system uptime. If solar power generation is low for a period of time, this can both be anticipated and then managed by changing the load intensities to maintain reliability and uptime.   

When it comes to the effect of snow and ice on system performance, Smart Off-Grid power management has a major advantage in the winter. With any power system exposed to the elements in the winter, as seen through the Texas winter storm, snow, wind and ice may affect the infrastructure unexpectedly. However, with Smart Off-Grid, you can predict and immediately see any effect snow or ice may be having on the system’s performance. From there, power can be remotely managed to maintain system uptime to the highest possible level until the issue can be resolved. Through active management with Smart Off-Grid technology, your power system will be extremely reliable, and you can easily make adjustments along the way.   

Battery management is another key feature to ensure power systems perform optimally throughout the winter. As discussed in our blog on Battery State of Charge, temperature, specifically cold weather can affect the total capacity of the battery. As a result, the battery can store less energy, impacting the overall performance of the system. 

To manage around battery capacity in cold weather, Smart Off-Grid technology takes temperature into account when managing batteries in power systems. On each Smart Off-Grid controller, there is a temperature probe that detects the external temperature. When the temperature is low, the controller will automatically charge the battery more to make sure the system consistently has power available, given the battery’s reduced capacity. Also, Smart Off-Grid systems use Lead-Acid batteries in regions with cold temperatures as they perform better than Lithium-Ion batteries in cold temperatures.  

Ultimately, Smart Off-Grid technology is crucial for providing reliable, resilient power in the winter, despite the common misconception that solar is ineffective in the winter. Smart Off-Grid provides the unique ability to tailor your system specifically for winter weather, and actively manage your system’s power to ensure reliability and uptime when you need it the most. As well, Smart Off-Grid incorporates the effect of temperature on battery health when managing battery charging. As a result, Smart Off-Grid systems are resilient in the winter.

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