I routinely hook my HM up to a Morningstar charge controller in my outdoor shed. I use the stock blower and a servo. Hooked to the charge controller is a 15W solar panel and a boat/marine deep cycle battery. I've cooked for 12 hours+ with it, no problem. I have not tried to do it without the battery connected, however. I'm not even sure what would happen with the charge controller if you didn't have a battery connected and you hooked the panel and load/HM to it.
One of the things the charge controller does is adjust the voltage output to avoid damaging up the battery. On a sunny day, the panel can put out 17 or 18 volts I think, (w/o the charge controller). If that's in the allowed range for the HM, then you'll be safe. However, on a cloudy day, the output may be much less, so a battery may well be necessary.
