Grid tie inverters are designed to shut down in the event of a power failure. It's a protection feature that both prevents the power you generate from keeping the grid hot while technicians are working on it and prevents too much power draw from your system if the grid suddenly dies.
So just as you wouldn't plug a generator into an outlet to prevent harm to a lineperson, you wouldn't leave the grid tie active. OK, got that.
In my buddies case, he already had a transfer panel setup for a generator, which meant, basically, the only things he needed were a charge controller, a battery rack with disconnect, and an inverter that could tie into said transfer panel. Then he could run a solar charged battery back-up just like one would run a back-up home generator. Now, you could technically run directly off the panels with just an inverter, but it's not a stable power source.
In essence, it's two systems on one set of solar panels. The grid based system and the back-up system.
So a transfer switch is viable, but it turns your solar panels into a separate power source, not a continuous source that supplements the grid. To do that requires extra gear. Add a battery backup system and we're talking even more gear and money. By George, I think I've got it !
Thanks for the enlightenment.
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