no battery solar

I have a solar array that is installed in with the grid so the the stuff I don't
use goes to the grid. And I get it back from the grid when there's no sun. I don't have
any batteries. What I would like to do is,. in case of a power outage, be able to use the
power that's collected during the day. Even if it means that I have to have a small
battery just to power the collection systems without going to a big battery array to
power the whole house so that I can in effect have daytime electric. Is it possible to do
that while disconnecting from the grid if the power goes out and run just run the solar
array collectors by battery. What would happen with the extra power that I don't use? Is
it possible to do that?

What inverter do you have? What power (voltage, hz, phases) is your grid?

Yes. That's called AC coupling.

hwy17 said:

Yes. That's called AC coupling.

Click to expand...

More to it than that if you need to add grid down capability.

DIYrich said:

More to it than that if you need to add grid down capability.

Click to expand...

In my mind the definition of the term AC Coupling is the ability to operate with a grid tied inverter in an off grid scenario. So to me OP is describing the concept of an AC Coupled system.

Practically everyone with a grid tie system hits the point that they want it to work when there is no grid. It is not straightforward and in some case you need to install a lot of expensive equipment plus batteries.

Grid tie solar parallels with the grid and because the grid is an infinite load it tries to generate max power. No grid means no where for that to go and the loss of the signal to be in parallel. Off grid panels do not generate power until they are loaded. Various methods of creating micro grids and hybrid systems are employed in the effort to work with these facts.

Frankly the practice of calling things AC coupled or DC coupled I find annoying. Coupled simply means connected.

So to answer the OP questions. No it is not just a battery addition (with inverter) that will trick your grid tie inverters into thinking a grid is present and parallel with it. Equipment that makes such a micro grid possible requires the ability to dump load.