What’s the Best Way to Light Your Home When There’s a Power Outage?
With the recent onslaught of hurricanes and power outages, many of our customers have been asking us about home batteries as an emergency power source to kick in during a blackout.
Mercedes Benz was one of the more recent entrants in the U.S. market vying to sell home batteries that store excess energy produced by rooftop solar panels, the New York Times reports.
But don’t get excited yet. As with previous home battery products on the market, the cost to install the Mercedes battery — an estimated $5,000-$13,000 — is still far too steep compared to the value it provides for most homeowners. While these batteries do have the capability to be configured as a backup power source, their limited storage capacity is just not ideal for this purpose.
According to the Mercedes product information, the 2.5-kilowatt-hour batteries have a modular design, allowing them to be combined into systems of up to 20 kilowatt-hours — about enough to run your fridge for a week, as the Times story estimates.
By contrast, if you spent that money on a traditional home generator, you could power your whole house — and the sun wouldn’t need to come out in order to refuel it.
It doesn’t take a math genius to see that here in the Northeast, the economics don’t yet add up in favor of home batteries for the average homeowner.
Still, Mercedes’ arrival on the scene is a good thing. As more players enter the field, competition will fuel the kind of research that will ultimately produce better technology and prices.
Meanwhile, all of the solar energy systems we install today are battery compatible — so there’s no reason to wait to go solar. In fact, we recommend taking advantage of current tax incentives to ensure the best value for a solar installation. For more information and a free assessment for your home or business, call (914) 762-7622 or www.sunrisesolarllc.com
