Tag Archives: resiliency

How much of my house can I run on a battery–and for how long?

If you are researching a solar battery there’s one major question that you likely have: how much of your house can you power with a typical solar battery, and how long can you provide power to your home? As with most things, the short answer is an ever unsatisfying: it depends! The longer answer is a complicated one, so we’re here to help. 

We’ve split this article into two separate questions–how much and for how long–since both questions are important as you decide which battery to install, but the answers rely on different factors.

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Why the Texas electrical grid may still be in trouble

In February 2021, Texas residents lost power after the state’s electrical grid failed as the catastrophic Winter Storm Uri moved through the state. A question remains whether or not there’s still legitimate cause for concern. Almost half of Texans (47 percent) don’t believe that the legislation passed improved the reliability of the state’s electrical grid sufficiently enough to help ensure that Texans will not again suffer as they did during the February 2021 winter storm.

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Tesla Powerwall: how much of my house can I run on it–and for how long?

If you’re in the market for a Tesla Powerwall, or any solar battery, your biggest question is likely, “how much of my house can I run using this battery, and for how long?” While the answer depends on a number of factors specific to your household’s energy use, we’ve outlined some steps you can take to make an estimation. 

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Texas electric retail providers: what does it mean to have a “deregulated electricity market?”

Texas experienced a series of devastating power outages in February 2021 that some are blaming on its instability caused by its deregulated electricity market. However, proponents of deregulation say that it can help cut down on costs and improve services to customers. Given this recent discussion, we will explain what having a deregulated electricity market means, how Texas’s electric choice affects customers, and how it can impact your savings with solar. 

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Don’t snow on Texas: diving into the 2021 blackouts

Much has already been written about this week’s power outages in Texas, and the devastating impact they’ve had on the millions of people who are left in the dark and the cold. Unfortunately, a large portion of the original reporting about the cause of the blackouts contained misinformation. So we want to join the growing chorus of articles setting the record straight on what actually happened in Texas, as well as to take a look at how to prepare to keep the lights on during severe weather events in the future. 

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Solar panels and wind: are your panels made to last?

Weather events like hurricanes are accompanied by wind speeds up to 200 miles per hour, and tornadoes can bring even higher speeds that threaten to damage rooftop and ground-mounted solar energy systems. If you live in a windy area of the country, it is especially important to know how your solar energy system will hold up during a storm.

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Backup generators vs. energy storage: do the math

More and more homeowners are looking for ways to improve the resilience of their home’s electricity systems. Historically, many people who wanted backup power for their homes in the event of an emergency–think natural disasters and other outage events–looked to back up generators for that resilience. These days, however, homeowners are increasingly looking to energy storage systems, and solar plus storage systems in particular, for that peace of mind during outages. 

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Black start: why it matters

The electrical grid is designed with redundancy in mind. In order to avoid any consumers losing power, and especially any prolonged drops in power, utilities and the grid operators have designed backup plans and backups to those backups. Although very rarely, if ever, necessary, the last of those backup plans is perhaps the most important of all: black start resources.

What is black start?

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