Off-Grid and Battery Storage
Take your villa, guesthouse or home fully off the grid with FranklinWH and Sol-Ark storage.
See how long you stay up
Jackson Trace, Castara Village, Tobago
Power your villa on Tobago sunlight.
Grid-tied, off-grid and battery-backed solar for Tobago homes, guesthouses and eco resorts. Turnkey systems built to run for twenty-five years and to keep running after the storm.
Tier 1 components
25 year systems
Verified .eco business
500+Projects completed, Caribbean-wide
1,823Kilowatts installed, Caribbean-wide
4,743Solar panels installed, Caribbean-wide
13Years of on-site experience
About S.E.C
An island installer, based in Castara.
Solar Energy Caribbean is a solar installer based at Jackson Trace in Castara Village, Tobago, working across both islands and across the wider Caribbean. We design and install grid-tied and off-grid solar PV with battery storage for homeowners, villa owners, guesthouses, eco resorts and vacation rentals in Tobago, and for hotels, warehouses, offices and factories in Trinidad.
Island power that does not go out.
Every system is turnkey: a free in-depth site analysis, a custom design, a twenty-five year payback prediction, professional installation by qualified electricians and roofers, and smartphone monitoring afterwards. We use Tier 1 components only, and we carry a .eco domain because the environmental commitment behind it is a public pledge, not a slogan.
Talk to us about your property
13years of on-site experience
What we install
Solar built for island properties.
Off-grid and battery storage first, because on this island the question is not only what the system saves you, it is whether the lights stay on.
Solar for Villas, Guesthouses and Eco Resorts
Purpose-built systems for Tobago's vacation rentals, eco retreats and tourism properties.
Size a systemGrid-Tied Solar PV
Residential and commercial grid-tied systems, supplied with Zero-Export Meters for T&T compliance.
Ask about complianceHurricane-Resilient Turnkey Installation
Turnkey systems built to last 25 years and keep working after the next storm.
Free Site Assessment and System Design
Free in-depth site analysis, custom system design and a predicted payback for the next 25 years.
Book the free assessmentCommercial and Industrial Solar
Scalable arrays for hotels, restaurants, warehouses, shops, offices and factories across Trinidad.
EV Charging and Solar Car Parks
Charge an electric vehicle free from your own roof, or shade your car park with panels.
Smart Monitoring and After-Sales Support
Watch your system from your phone, with full warranty cover and tech support behind it.
Energy Efficiency Audits and LED Upgrades
Cut the load before you size the array, with an efficiency audit and LED upgrades.
Building Integrated Photovoltaics
Panels built into the structure itself, for designs where a bolt-on array will not do.
How the system fits together
Follow the power from the roof to the kettle.
Tap any part of the system to see what it does. Then switch between sun, after dark, and a grid outage, and watch where the power actually comes from.
Solar panels
Tier 1 panels, bolted to rails anchored through the roof and sealed. They carry a 12 to 30 year product warranty and are guaranteed to still make at least 85 percent of their rated power after 25 years.
Canadian Solar, Jinko, JA Solar, Q-Cells, REC, Silfab, Trina, Longi
Power optimisers
One per panel. Each panel is managed on its own, so a shaded or dirty panel drags down only itself instead of the whole string. On a Tobago roof with palms and afternoon cloud, that is not a luxury.
Also available as micro inverters
Hybrid inverter
The brain. It turns DC from the roof into the AC your property runs on, decides moment to moment whether to feed the house, charge the battery or send the surplus out, and switches you over when the grid drops.
SMA, Fronius, Enphase, APsystems, Solis, Sol-Ark
Battery storage
Where the afternoon goes so you can spend it at night. This is the part that decides your ride-out time, and it is the reason a property can carry on through an outage instead of waiting on the grid.
FranklinWH, Sol-Ark hybrid, Tesla Powerwall, APstorage
Your loads
Lights, fans, fridges, freezers, the water pump, the internet and the air conditioning. We measure what you actually run before sizing anything, because the load list sets the array and the battery, not the other way round.
Ask about an efficiency audit and LED upgrade first
Zero-export meter
Required for grid-tied systems in Trinidad and Tobago, and its whole job is to stop your system pushing power back onto the T&TEC network. That is why the diagram shows nothing leaving on a sunny day: surplus goes into the battery, and when the battery is full the inverter throttles back instead of exporting.
Supplied and configured as part of the install
The T&TEC grid
Still connected, still there as a backstop on a grid-tied system. The difference is that it stops being the thing your property depends on and becomes the thing your property falls back on.
Off-grid designs leave it out entirely
Monitoring on your phone
Production, consumption and battery state of charge, live, from anywhere. For a villa owner who is off-island for months at a time, this is how you know the property is fine without calling anyone.
Included, with warranty cover and tech support behind it
Sunny: the roof runs the property and charges the battery. Nothing goes back out to T&TEC, because that is exactly what the zero-export meter is there to prevent. Once the battery is full, the inverter simply makes less.
After dark: the battery runs the property. The grid only makes up the difference if the battery gets low.
Grid outage: the inverter disconnects from T&TEC and your property keeps running on the battery, and on the roof again in the morning. This is the part your neighbours do not have.
Tap any box in the diagram to read what it does.
DC, roof and battery side
AC, the side your appliances use
The Ride-Out Planner
How long do you stay up when the grid goes down?
Tobago loses power, and storm season makes it worse. Before you ask what solar saves you, ask how long your property runs without the grid. Pick your property type, then compare a standard system against one built to carry the extras.
BUILD NOTE, NOT FOR PUBLICATION: every array size, battery capacity, roof area and days-of-autonomy figure below, on both the standard and the bigger system, is a sample band for layout only. All forty figures must be confirmed by Solar Energy Caribbean before this page goes live.
Family home
What we usually see
A Tobago household draws steadily all day: fridge, freezer, water pump, fans, lights and devices, with a heavier evening peak once cooking and television come on. Bedroom air conditioning overnight is what changes the shape of the whole load.
Standard system
A typical system for this
Sample4 to 6 kWTypical array size
Sample10 to 15 kWhTypical battery capacity
Sample22 to 32 m²Clear roof area, about 240 to 345 sq ft
Sample1 to 2 daysTypical autonomy, no grid and no sun
What stays on
Keeps running
- Fridge and freezer
- Lights and ceiling fans
- Water pump
- Internet, phones and television
Needs a bigger system
- Whole-house air conditioning
- Electric water heating
- Electric cooking through a long outage
Bigger system
What it takes to run the extras
Sample8 to 12 kWTypical array size
Sample25 to 35 kWhTypical battery capacity
Sample44 to 64 m²Clear roof area, about 475 to 690 sq ft
Sample2 to 3 daysTypical autonomy, no grid and no sun
What stays on
Keeps running
- Everything on the standard system
- Air conditioning in every bedroom, overnight
- Electric water heating
- Electric cooking right through an outage
What it asks of you
Roughly double the roof area and a second battery module, and you need somewhere cool and dry to put the cabinet.
Tell us what you run and we will give you the honest number for your roof.
Get my ride-out numberVilla or vacation rental
What we usually see
A villa runs hard when it is occupied and near-idle when it is not, and the owner is often off-island. Pool pump, air conditioning in the bedrooms and a full kitchen set the peak; the base load between guests is small. An outage during a paid stay is a refund conversation.
Standard system
A typical system for this
Sample6 to 10 kWTypical array size
Sample15 to 25 kWhTypical battery capacity
Sample32 to 54 m²Clear roof area, about 345 to 580 sq ft
Sample2 to 3 daysTypical autonomy, no grid and no sun
What stays on
Keeps running
- Fridge, freezer and kitchen
- Lights, fans and security
- Water pump and pressure
- Wi-Fi for guests
- One or two bedroom air conditioners
Needs a bigger system
- Air conditioning throughout the property
- Pool pump running through the outage
- Electric water heating for a full house
Bigger system
What it takes to run the extras
Sample12 to 18 kWTypical array size
Sample30 to 50 kWhTypical battery capacity
Sample64 to 96 m²Clear roof area, about 690 to 1,035 sq ft
Sample3 to 4 daysTypical autonomy, no grid and no sun
What stays on
Keeps running
- Everything on the standard system
- Air conditioning throughout, with a full house of guests
- Pool pump on its normal cycle
- Electric water heating for every bathroom
What it asks of you
More roof than a single pitch usually carries, so expect a second array run or a carport, plus a larger battery bank.
Send us the villa and the bedroom count and we will size the ride-out for a full house.
Get my ride-out numberGuest house or small hotel
What we usually see
Several rooms of air conditioning, a commercial fridge or two, laundry, a breakfast kitchen and a pump that never really stops. The load is high and it is round the clock, and unlike a home there is no option to sit an outage out in the dark.
Standard system
A typical system for this
Sample10 to 20 kWTypical array size
Sample25 to 45 kWhTypical battery capacity
Sample54 to 106 m²Clear roof area, about 580 to 1,140 sq ft
Sample1 to 2 daysTypical autonomy, no grid and no sun
What stays on
Keeps running
- All refrigeration
- Guest room lights, fans and sockets
- Water pump and hot water
- Wi-Fi, reception and security
- Room air conditioning in rotation
Needs a bigger system
- Every room air conditioned at once
- Commercial laundry through an outage
- Full commercial kitchen on electric
Bigger system
What it takes to run the extras
Sample25 to 40 kWTypical array size
Sample60 to 100 kWhTypical battery capacity
Sample130 to 210 m²Clear roof area, about 1,400 to 2,260 sq ft
Sample2 to 3 daysTypical autonomy, no grid and no sun
What stays on
Keeps running
- Everything on the standard system
- Every room air conditioned at once, in season
- Commercial laundry through an outage
- Full electric kitchen service
What it asks of you
This is a commercial install: a plant room for the battery bank, three-phase in most cases, and roof or ground space for a much larger array.
Tell us the room count and we will build the number around a full house in season.
Get my ride-out numberRestaurant, bar or shop
What we usually see
Refrigeration is the whole story. Chillers, freezers and a cold room run day and night, and a long outage is stock on the floor rather than an inconvenience. Trading hours are concentrated, so the array often makes more than the business uses at midday.
Standard system
A typical system for this
Sample8 to 15 kWTypical array size
Sample20 to 40 kWhTypical battery capacity
Sample42 to 80 m²Clear roof area, about 450 to 860 sq ft
Sample1 to 2 daysTypical autonomy, no grid and no sun
What stays on
Keeps running
- Chillers, freezers and cold room
- Lights, fans and extraction
- Point of sale and card terminal
- Wi-Fi and security
Needs a bigger system
- Full dining-room air conditioning
- Electric ovens and fryers on battery
- Ice machines running continuously
Bigger system
What it takes to run the extras
Sample18 to 30 kWTypical array size
Sample50 to 80 kWhTypical battery capacity
Sample95 to 160 m²Clear roof area, about 1,020 to 1,720 sq ft
Sample2 daysTypical autonomy, no grid and no sun
What stays on
Keeps running
- Everything on the standard system
- Dining room air conditioned through service
- Electric ovens and fryers on battery
- Ice machines running continuously
What it asks of you
Trading through an outage rather than closing. Needs the roof space, a plant area for the battery, and usually a three-phase supply.
Send us your refrigeration list and we will size the battery to protect the stock.
Get my ride-out numberOff-grid cottage
What we usually see
No grid connection at all, or one so far away that bringing it in costs more than the system. Here the battery is not a backup, it is the supply, so the design is sized for the worst week of the rainy season rather than the average day.
Standard system
A typical system for this
Sample3 to 5 kWTypical array size
Sample10 to 20 kWhTypical battery capacity
Sample16 to 27 m²Clear roof area, about 170 to 290 sq ft
Sample3 to 4 daysTypical autonomy, no grid and no sun
What stays on
Keeps running
- Fridge and small freezer
- Lights and fans
- Water pump
- Laptops, phones and internet
Needs a bigger system
- Any air conditioning
- Electric water heating
- Power tools or a workshop
Bigger system
What it takes to run the extras
Sample6 to 9 kWTypical array size
Sample25 to 35 kWhTypical battery capacity
Sample32 to 48 m²Clear roof area, about 345 to 515 sq ft
Sample4 to 5 daysTypical autonomy, no grid and no sun
What stays on
Keeps running
- Everything on the standard system
- One or two air conditioners
- Electric water heating
- A workshop with power tools
What it asks of you
On a remote site the array and the battery both grow, and access for delivery is usually the harder part of the job.
Tell us where the cottage is and what you need to run, and we will design it for the rainy week.
Get my ride-out numberThese are typical ranges from past installations, not a quotation. Your real number depends on your roof, your appliances and how you use them. The free site assessment produces the figure for your property.
Credentials
A green claim you can check.
Solar Energy Caribbean holds a registered .eco identity with a public sustainability pledge, activated 9 March 2024, declaring six UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Verified: the .eco sustainability profile at
profiles.eco/solarenergycaribbean
is public, third-party hosted and open for any visitor to check.
Tier 1 components we install
Brands installed by Solar Energy Caribbean. Authorised dealer status is not claimed.
Get in touch
Book a free site assessment.
Free in-depth site analysis, a custom design and a twenty-five year payback prediction, anywhere in Tobago and Trinidad.
Where we areJackson Trace, Castara Village, Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago
Phone and WhatsApp868-757-3021
Where we workTobago island-wide, and Trinidad including Port of Spain, San Fernando, Chaguanas, Arima, Couva and Point Lisas
Tell us about your property
Solar Energy Caribbean Ltd. · Jackson Trace, Castara Village, Tobago · Solar panel installers, off-grid and battery storage
Listed on smghardwarett.com · Demo build for client review, contact details and figures pending confirmation