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Britain’s biggest community solar farm forced to shut over grid overload fears
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2026
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last night i watched a video about plug in solar and it appears that the rules say that when you lose mains power (power cut), your system must also terminate and shut down. I didn't realise this was the case, and thought i could get a small battery to power my home in a power cut (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Unplug from the wall and you’re good to go. Otherwise you’re back feeding and could injure a worker.
Yes the video did explain the reasons ext, but is there nothing i can stick to my consumer unit or outside unit to stop export? How do backup generators work then?
For a whole home system there needs to be an auto shutoff. It isolates the house.
You would need to install something like a “break then make” switch that isolates the house from the main line before feeding power back from your local source(s)
I have generator that automatically kicks on when my power goes out. It shuts down the grid connection before it does so to avoid feeding power back to the grid. You just need something similar that would cut off the grid when the power goes out and switch to your battery.
You can do this physically. I requested octopus energy install an isolator switch before my distribution box, as my house is old enough to send the power directly into the home, before those external boxes with the earth, isolator and meter were implemented.
That's a safety feature so a breaker actually cuts the power supply to your home/room/whatever when it's turned off.
When I soon™ get the chance to put up solar, my plan is to have a separate breaker box on an interlock that can only be solar or grid power. So to start I don't need a huge investment in panels or batteries, and slowly add capacity and demand while always having a grid backup if needed