As fire season approaches, it is more important than ever to protect your home with solar + storage. The resiliency offered by a solar + storage installation isn't just a good idea for your safety and security; it's also an excellent financial decision. Since the release of legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act, many solar incentive programs have been created to support the installation of both solar systems and battery storage solutions, so now is an incredible time to make the switch to a solar + storage system. For help with your own solar + storage project, schedule a free consultation today.

Protect Your Home

Solar energy is a lot of things - a strong investment, a value generator, and an alternative to market volatility. A solar system represents an incredible opportunity to control your costs and achieve energy independence. But solar energy also operates as a shield - a shield that secures both your home and your environment. When you go solar, you’re not just making a smart financial decision - you’re choosing to protect your home against a number of pressing concerns. Let’s investigate how a solar system can protect your home and your environment while creating value and generating energy.

How does a solar system protect your home?

A solar system can protect your home from grid instability, and the resulting issues that stem from it. Solar installations with a battery backup allow you to operate completely untethered from the grid. This way, you can still draw power from your battery reserves, and power the critical devices in your home.

Batteries Have Your Back

Supporting your solar system with a battery backup is one of the best ways you can protect your home. Battery storage solutions like the ones offered by FranklinWH provide increased safety, reliability, and energy independence to any interested homeowner, and naturally complement the solar system that shields your home. With battery backup, you'll be able to weather outages on the power you generated yourself! You'll save big in the process by banking your excess energy during the day, then expending it during peak usage hours to avoid surge pricing. Battery storage solutions are easy to install and built to last, so you'll be able to enjoy the use of a battery alongside any new solar system. When it comes to solar safety, batteries have your back.

The Price of Power Outages

For many people, a brief or moderate power outage represents an inconvenience. Without power, you may not be able to watch your favorite shows, access the internet, or charge your phone. When the power is out due to maintenance or some other small issue, it’s easy to feel annoyed, but these kinds of outages don’t seem very troublesome at their outset. However, there are all kinds of reasons why a power outage, whether brief or extended, may represent a real issue.

In the summer, when heat rises to such a degree that we all run for cover and the relief of AC, the grid strains under the increased demand. Not only does this cause prices to spike, as we’ve discussed previously, but it also can tax the system to such a degree that rolling brownouts or even blackouts become unavoidable.

Going Dark

These can be very disruptive for a number of reasons. With more California residents working from home than ever before, the power instability can dramatically impact the ability of employees to keep up with their projects. It can mean missed meetings, lost opportunities, and hours of extra work catching up on the hours taken by the outage. While this may not be a directly life threatening impact, it is certainly an important one to those who cannot afford to miss work.

Beyond access to information and employment, a loss of power can prove dangerous for those who rely on electricity for critical uses. Access to power can equal access to water for anyone using electricity to access their well water. The longer the blackout, the more dire it becomes to go without water, especially in the summer months when outages are more common.

Rising temperatures and restricted water access are a risky combo, and it puts the inconvenience of a smaller outage into perspective. Add to that the many Californians who rely on powered medical equipment to live safely in their daily lives. These machines require electricity to function, and not having access to them is far more than an inconvenience.

Increase Your Home Resiliency

With a solar installation and a battery storage backup, you’re in position to protect your home from the dangers and difficulties of an unexpected or prolonged outage. Not only will you be saving money and adding value to your home while the grid is operational, but you’ll be prepared for the worst if the grid suffers failure due to accident, strain, or emergency.

Depending on how you’ve sized your system, and how you prioritize your energy usage, your charged battery can allow you to operate untethered from the grid, giving you a crucial, renewable resource. This is when something like a smart panel can help you to decide which electric items are a priority, and which can be paused while the blackout is in effect.

For example, your EV charger is a great item to have powered by solar in normal use cases, but in an emergency situation, food storage, water access, and medical equipment may take priority. You could use a smart panel in addition to your battery storage system to add or remove appliances from your priority list, ensuring that your power goes to the most important functions. This is how you can protect your home with solar - by giving yourself the control and independence to continue operation even if the grid around you is impacted.

Protect Your Environment

As we all know, your home isn’t the only place that benefits from a solar installation. By making the switch to solar, you’re not just taking steps to protect your home - you’re protecting your environment as well. We created a whole infographic just to represent the impact of a single solar system on the environment over the course of a standard 25 year life cycle.

The results of that study were clear: utilizing a solar system to generate power for your home reduces consumption, eliminates harmful emissions, and removes the need to destroy critical carbon sinks like forests. There is much that needs to be done to help stabilize and heal the environment, but something as simple as an individual solar installation contributes an incredible amount towards protecting our environment.

When you make the decision to go solar, you’re choosing to protect your home and your environment. It’s really an added bonus that you also get all the incredible personal and financial benefits along with it. But more than anything, you’ll have the peace of mind that your home is secure against outages, and your environment is a little bit brighter as a result. Be sure to reach out to one of our consultants if that sense of security sounds like something you want for your home.