An increasing number of APS clients have decided to take up residence in more and more remote areas, relying on a myriad of off-grid technologies in order to mesh the clean, renewable, affordable energy the sun provides and supplement it with other sustainability minded equipment.
Standby or backup generators are often used as part of an alternative power delivery system for their ability to mitigate weather conditions. Reducing what could be a cold dark night to a short generator driven top-up is what off-grid living is all about; keeping the lights on in your own personal nature retreat.
Typically installed alongside Automatic Generator Start modules (AGS), your generator will automatically turn on and begin to charge a battery bank when flexible conditions are met; if the system's primary power source (solar, microhydro) is not sufficient to run a load, if battery levels drop below a set point, or periodically to ensure system health with the use of monitoring and reporting tools. Used in this manner, a generator's duty cycle (the duration of a given day or week that it runs) is extremely low, and so too is the ecological footprint. A correctly sized generator running Diesel fuel will often need to operate for fewer than 1-3 hours per week in order to maintain system stability, and often only when particularly gloomy weather is also present.
Learn more about standby & backup generators on our off-grid solar page
