Wildfire Season is Coming, Prepare Now with Solar + Storage

Wildfire Season is Coming, Prepare Now with Solar + Storage

As California slowly comes out of the Covid-19 shutdowns and pandemic restrictions, it also faces the threat of another wildfire season. 2020’s wildfires in the state devastated 4 million hectares of forests and also created outages for thousands of residential and commercial customers. As the state prepares for wildfire season and Public Safety Power Shut Offs that can potentially leave thousands of utility customers without grid power for many hours to days, energy solutions that include a combination of solar and energy storage systems are more important than ever to keep power available at residences and commercial buildings. By rethinking your energy future, you can say goodbye to unpredictable power outages and summer price surges. The combination of solar electricity and storage means you can prepare for the unexpected by storing excess energy created by your solar panel system. Whether it’s at night or your community is experiencing a power outage, you can rely on your energy system to continue providing energy to your home and business. When a solar plus storage system is installed, the energy storage system can charge from excess electricity generated by the solar array or the electricity from the grid.  In situations where the power grid is down, that electricity in the battery is discharged to either power your entire home or the critical loads connected to a separate backup panel. There are many technologies available in California to meet the clean backup requirements created by unexpected grid outages and/or Public Safety Power Shut Offs events. These include LG Chem, Generac, Fortress Power, Discover Battery systems, etc., that can be tied to Solar arrays through the use of hybrid inverters. This DC coupled scenario is the most cost-effective way to utilize solar energy as well as to get backup power.