Florida Power and Light lobbyists made it illegal to use solar during outages

[ABX]

Florida Power and Light's grid did not fare well under Hurricane Irma, despite the company's assurances that it had spent billions hardening its systems after 90% of its customers lost power to 2005's Hurricane Wilma.

But one thing has changed since 2005: solar. Many of the FPL customers who are living through dangerous heat without power now have solar panels on their roofs that could keep them going while FPL repairs its infrastructure. Except doing so is illegal, thanks to FPL's lobbyists, who literally ghost-wrote much of Florida's dreadful solar rules.....

https://boingboing.net/2017/09/18/rep-ray-rodrigues.html

[thackney]

Some reports say differently:

After Irma, Solar Power Helped Keep Florida Shining
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2017-09-19/energy-policy/after-irma-solar-power-helped-keep-florida-shining/a59469-1

As Hurricane Irma plunged 6.7 million people into darkness, the moment was short-lived especially for those with solar panels that can work off the grid.

In fact, people, businesses, and even cities were able to function if they had a battery storage system or a stand-alone inverter - such as the one Cocoa Beach resident Barbra Williams has attached to her home.

"I can't tell you the difference," she says. "There is no noise, there is no smell, there is no gas line. You know, you're just getting this pure sunshine coming through this line and you're able to plug in your refrigerator. We had a fan, a refrigerator, and we charged our phones."...

[driftdiver]

How they gonna know?

[thackney]

This article states it depends on what type of system you buy:

After Hurricane Irma: Why solar power can’t replace storm-damaged grid
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/after-hurricane-irma-why-solar-power-can-replace-storm-damaged-grid/mSmLcXjuPFAOWw4GHlYsTI/

...Alissa Jean Schafer, solar communications and policy manager at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, explained in a recent blog that the standard, grid-connected solar system cannot necessarily be counted on to replace the power grid if you are without power after a storm.

“If the grid goes down, your solar panels are ‘down’ as well, not providing any electricity to you. If you’re not sure what kind you have, they are probably connected to the grid,” Schafer wrote.

“The biggest reason for this shutdown is safety. As soon as possible after the grid goes down in a hurricane or tropical storm, power companies get to work trying to bring it back on, that means hundreds, or even thousands, of workers and emergency response teams are performing hands on work on power lines in affected areas. If residential solar panel systems are connected to the grid and generating power, this poses an electric shock risk to any worker. Incorrectly connected generators pose the same risk and come with warnings not to connect to the grid,” Schafer said.

If you have a rare off-grid system, complete with a battery back-up, then it would work, Schafer said....

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Off-grid systems, with battery backup and transfer switches are more expensive.  Most people don't pay for that and only get peak shaving systems that lower the electric charges during day peak, but not a system backup.

[thackney]

How they gonna know?

If not disconnected from the grid, when the lineman gets electrocuted with the 13,800 Volts or so backfed through the transformer that normally feeds the home, they will notice.