Solar power
On-grid, off-grid and hybrid solar systems in Islamabad and Rawalpindi
On-grid is cheapest and dies with the grid. Off-grid runs independently but needs a battery bank sized for the worst week of the year. Hybrid does both and is what most Islamabad households actually want. Choosing between them changes the price more than any other decision on a solar quote.
- Typical price
- From PKR 550,000
- How long it takes
- Three to four days for a hybrid including the essential-load board split
- Site survey
- Free in Islamabad & Rawalpindi
Establish what you want the system to do in an outage
This one answer decides the architecture. Cut the bill only — on-grid. Keep fans, lights and a fridge running through load-shedding — hybrid. Run a property with no reliable grid connection at all — off-grid. People often pay for off-grid capability when what they wanted was hybrid.
Separate essential loads from everything else
For hybrid and off-grid we split the board so lights, fans, the fridge and internet sit on a backed-up circuit and the air conditioning does not. Backing up the whole house doubles the battery bank to keep an AC running for twenty minutes, which is almost never the right trade.
Size the bank against the worst case, not the average
Battery capacity comes from the essential load multiplied by the longest outage you actually get in your area in the season it matters. We size from your area's real pattern rather than a default, because a bank sized on an annual average is short exactly when it is needed.
Install, changeover and prove it in a real cut
The system is commissioned and then tested by pulling the mains and watching the changeover on the essential board. You see it happen before we leave, rather than finding out during the first genuine outage.
What the price covers. PKR 550,000 is a 3kW hybrid with a modest lithium bank covering essential loads. A 5kW hybrid with enough storage for a full evening of essentials runs PKR 900,000 to 1,300,000, and the battery is most of the difference. A true off-grid system for a property with no connection is quoted after a full load study.
Included on every visit
- Outage behaviour agreed in writing before anything is sized
- Essential and non-essential loads split at the board
- Battery bank sized against your area's real outage pattern
- Hybrid inverter with grid, solar and battery inputs configured
- Changeover proven by pulling the mains during handover
- Commissioning sheet with all measured values
- Written warranty on workmanship alongside manufacturer warranties
Questions people ask
Will on-grid solar run my house during load-shedding?
No, and this surprises people every time. A grid-tied inverter shuts down when the grid drops — it has to, so it cannot backfeed a line linemen may be working on. If keeping fans and lights alive through a cut is part of why you are buying solar, you need hybrid, and that needs to be in the quote from the start.
Can I add batteries to an on-grid system later?
Sometimes, but rarely cheaply. It depends entirely on whether the inverter was hybrid-capable when it was bought. If it was not, adding storage means replacing the inverter — so if there is any chance you will want backup within a few years, buying a hybrid inverter now costs far less than buying two inverters.
How many hours of backup will I actually get?
It depends entirely on what you back up. A typical essential circuit — lights, fans, a fridge, the router — draws a few hundred watts, so a modest lithium bank runs it comfortably through a normal evening cut. Put an air conditioner on the same bank and the same battery lasts minutes. This is why the load split matters more than the battery brand.