Take Control of Texas Power Outages with Batteries

Solar consumers enjoy many benefits from their solar system, including lowering their monthly electricity bills by generating their own power. You might even have a negative energy bill if you produce more energy than you consume. But sometimes you can’t always use or produce energy. Blackouts affect solar consumers with grid-tied systems like everyone else. Whether it be out from a storm or for maintenance, grid-tied systems go down with the grid. However, there is a way to keep the lights and internet on while everyone else is in the disconnected dark: batteries.

Seasonal Texas Power Outages

Extreme winter and summer weather threatens the Texas power grid. As temperatures rise and fall, energy usage increases to compensate. It’s hard to forget the Texas power crisis in February 2021, when statewide outages left millions without power for nearly a week following a historic freeze.

Alternatively, as the summer persists, and a heat dome descends from the Pacific Northwest, the potential for rolling blackouts and summertime power outages increases.  Just in June, ERCOT made pleas once again to Texans to conserve power.

Solar customers, however, can take advantage of their systems by pairing them with a backup storage battery that will power their home during outages.

Solar Battery Backups for Texas Power Outages

It’s unfortunate, but a grid-tied solar system cannot power your home when the power is out. Solar system’s invertors automatically shut off when the grid goes down to protect maintenance workers and the grid itself. However, solar backup batteries store the excess energy produced by your solar panels so you can access latent power when the grid is down.

With a wall battery, like the LG RESU16h backup battery or a Tesla Powerwall, there’s no more asking yourself, “when will the power be back on?” If there’s an outage, it will be back on in seconds with a battery.

Traditional gas generators are unreliable and expensive to keep running. In a severe weather event, you may not have access to gasoline. Keep your perishables cool, your microwave functional, and electronics juiced up so you can stay connected with a solar storage battery from Longhorn Solar.