Hey ShaughnK,
Anti-islanding protection safety feature that is built into all grid-tied and hybrid grid-tie inverters. Anti-islanding protection is a way for the inverter to sense when there is a problem with the power grid, such as a power outage, and shut itself off to stop feeding power back to the grid. This is because when problems arise with the power grid it is assumed that workers will be dispatched to deal with the issue, and they want the power lines to be completely safe, and not have electricity flowing from all the nearby PV grid-tie systems.
An important product of anti-islanding protection is that a purely grid-tied PV system will only operate when the power grid is active. If there is a power outage the inverter will shut off and although the solar panels may still be generating power it will not be sent to your house.
Effectively the inverters will switch off and stop production in the event of a power failure, what this does mean though is that when Eishkom goes down for load shedding or what ever reason, your inverters will also turn off and not produce power.
There are devices out there that do AC-Coupling "very expensive" which will automatically separate you from the grid and from a battery bank simulate a mini-grid which will fool the inverters to start up again. but with that comes a load of issue, like how do you get ride of excess energy you are producing and now using. From all my research from what I have found it's not worth it. Right now I have a separate essentials loads panel where all my lights are attached to and 1 plug point for my DSL and TV, plus my 220v solar water pump, these are connected to an inverter with a 400ah battery bank, which gives we around 24 hours of usage.
Hope that helps !
