Off-Grid vs. Grid-Tied Solar: What Homeowners Need to Know

As a homeowner, you’re ready to harness the power of the sun by installing solar panels on your metal roof. That’s great! Your next step is choosing an off-grid or grid-reliant system. In this blog, we’ll explore these two options, including their benefits, challenges and components. But first, we need to dive into the basics of powering your home with solar panels on a metal roof.

What Are the Parts of a Residential Rooftop Solar Energy System?

• Solar Panels
  • Solar technology involves photovoltaic (PV) panels that convert sunlight into electrical energy. Most solar panels are made up of PV cells covered by protective glass and encased in a protective metal frame. Panels, or modules, are about the same size of a large-screen TV and can be electrically interconnected to create an “array.” The solar modules convert sunlight into direct current (DC) electricity.
    • Off-grid systems do not connect their arrays to the electrical grid, but grid-tied systems do. Learn more about how solar PV panels work!

• Inverter
  • A solar power inverter converts DC electricity from the solar panels into alternating current (AC) electricity so that it may be used by household appliances after passing through the home’s electrical panel.

• Battery Storage
  • Batteries store DC electricity and play a vital role in solar PV systems, whether they’re grid-tied or off-grid. For grid-tied systems, batteries provide back-up power when needed. In some places, there may be financial benefits for using self-generated electricity or feeding it back into the grid, particularly during peak demand times or for self-consumption when sunlight is limited, making it more cost-effective to optimize your consumption based on the time of day.
  • For homeowners living completely off the grid, battery storage is crucial. Without it, homeowners will find themselves without power during times of the day they need it most. Imagine being at work all day while the sun is out, only to come home in the evening and find you are unable to power your kitchen appliances because the sun has set! Thankfully, battery storage allows off-grid homeowners to capture electricity, store it and then convert it back to household electricity when needed. A major consideration for homeowners choosing between grid-tied and off-grid living is the cost of battery storage, which varies based on the home’s electrical demand, battery’s size, type and other specifications.
    • There are many battery storage companies homeowners can choose from, including Soluna, Big Battery and Pylontech.

• Charge Controllers
  • A solar charge controller does just that: it controls the flow of energy from the PV panels to the battery. This piece of equipment is particularly important for battery back-up systems, because it ensures the solar array doesn’t overcharge the battery. For grid-tied systems that operate without batteries, a charge controller is not necessary since the public electrical grid effectively stores the excess energy generated by the solar array. 

Off-Grid Solar Power

Solar power systems that operate independently from the electrical grid are a great option for people who live in places where it’s difficult or expensive to connect to the public power grid. Keep in mind, when a residence is too remote to connect to the public grid, the homeowner must cover the costs of extending the utility line. For many, it is more economical to live off the grid than to extend the power lines.

How One YouTube Star is Living Off the Grid

Demolition Ranch, run by Matt Carriker, is one of the most successful firearms channels on YouTube. Carriker manages to do it all from his small, off-grid headquarters in Boerne, Texas.

Solar panels are rail-mounted on the Demolition Ranch trapezoidal-rib metal roof with ProteaBracket^™.

How? Solar panels, of course! The solar PV system on Carriker’s metal roof allows him to produce, edit and churn out his YouTube videos to millions of viewers across the world.

This solar metal roof demonstrates the feasibility and benefits of off-grid living.

Grid-Tied Solar Power

Most homes with rooftop solar panels are grid-tied, meaning their solar energy system works alongside the electrical grid. Like off-grid solar systems, grid-tied set-ups rely on solar power to generate electricity. Then, the electricity can either be used by the residence or fed back to the grid.

Solar and Metal: A Perfect Union

Whether you’re planning an off-grid system or a grid-tied solar energy system, metal roofing is the best bang for your buck. The uniqueness of metal roofing is that the structural ribs or seams act as inherent (and cost-free) “rails,” providing a rail-less, direct-attach^™ system, so no extra rails are needed. Additionally, its lifespan exceeds the serviceable life of the solar panels. With a metal roof, you’ll need to replace your solar panels long before you need to replace and recycle your roof panels, yielding a significantly higher lifetime return on investment.

Discover why metal roofing is best for solar.

The structure of a metal roof, including the purlins or wood decking beneath the metal panels, allows it to withstand the added weight of solar modules and more importantly—the uplift forces of wind. Plus, when solar is installed on a metal roof with the PVKIT^® rail-less, direct-attach solution, the weight of the mounting system is 85% lighter than a rail-based system.

Use the integrated rails on a standing seam metal roof to direct-attach solar panels.

Before you install solar panels, you need to understand what type of metal roof you have. The good news is that solar panels can be installed on both standing seam and exposed-fastened metal roofs!

Brackets are fastened through the panels on an exposed-fastened metal roof.

Uncle Sam Wants You To Use Solar

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, solar has had an annual growth rate of 25 percent in the last 10 years in the United States. This steady rise is a direct result of falling prices and generous tax incentives, such as the Investment Tax Credit, Residential Clean Energy Credit and the Inflation Reduction Act, which further promote investments in renewable energy.

Learn about the Inflation Reduction Act!

Ideas to Hold On To 

If you’re going solar, you have the option of living independently from the grid or relying on grid power as a backup. For many, the cost of battery storage and extending public utility lines to remote areas are the deciding factors for choosing an off-grid system. Once you’ve chosen the ideal solar energy system for your home, make sure to source metal roof solar attachments that are tested, engineered and warrantied to last the life of the roof.

Need help finding The Right Way™ to get started with your solar metal roof project? Check out the Metal Construction Association’s resources on metal roofing and solar PV systems for more details. Enroll in S-5-University™ to continue your education and become a metal roof expert!