Question. In the event of a power loss from bad weather or what have you; if you have solar panels and a Powerwall setup do you still store power during the outage? I know that in many states when the grid goes down those who have solar panels loose power as well. I am hoping this is not tru for those who pay a premium for Powerwall solar energy storage.
Yes, you still "store power" during an outage if you have solar power (PV) and battery storage (powerwalls). Your home becomes its own "microgrid". Your solar will still generate power, and power your home, and fill your powerwalls until they are full. When the powerwalls are full, the powerwalls will shut down the solar (because the power has no place to go). The powerwalls will continue to power the home, draining some battery power, and then when they have drained a bit of battery power, if there is still sun the powerwalls will let the PV (solar) turn back on.
That off / on of solar will repeat if powerwalls are full. If they are NOT full, the solar will power the home and fill the powerwalls until they are full, or until there is no sun.
The short answer is, you become your own grid when you have powerwalls and PV, and the solar fills the PV until its full or there is no more sun. if you have enough sun, and sized your system appropriately (have enough storage) you can run for quite a while that way (measured in days)... again depending on system size, and sun, and home loads, and number of powerwalls.