The surprise most homeowners get
A standard grid-tied solar system shuts itself off when the grid goes down. That is a safety requirement: it prevents your panels from pushing power onto lines that crews may be repairing. So, without a battery, your panels will not keep the lights on during an outage, even on a sunny afternoon.
A battery with the right equipment changes that. It lets your home disconnect from the grid, run on stored power, and use the panels to recharge during the day.
What a battery does for you
- Outage support. Keeps chosen circuits running when the grid is down.
- Evening use. Stores midday production so you can use it after sunset instead of buying it back.
- Flexibility. Gives you options if utility rules or rate structures change.
What it does not do
A battery is not a bottomless tank. It holds a fixed amount of energy, and how long that lasts depends entirely on what you connect to it. A refrigerator, lights, internet, and phone chargers can run a long time. Central air conditioning and an electric range drain a battery quickly.
Priority circuits versus whole home. Most residential batteries are wired to back up a selected set of circuits. Backing up everything is possible but costs more and needs more storage. We help you decide what actually matters during an outage before we design anything.
Tampa Bay specifics
Outages here tend to arrive with hurricane season, and they can last days rather than hours. A battery can bridge the first stretch and keep essentials running, especially with panels recharging it each day. It is not a replacement for a generator plan if you have medical equipment or other critical needs. Talk through those with us directly.
Add it now or later?
Many homeowners phase the investment. We design systems with battery-ready pathways so that adding storage later does not mean redoing the electrical work. If your budget is tight, starting with panels and adding a battery down the road is a legitimate plan.
Adding it at the start can cost less overall in labor and gives you outage coverage from day one. The right answer depends on your priorities, not on which option is more profitable for us.
10kW + Battery: $27,499 (demo price). Backup power for evening use and outages. 10kW array, Home battery backup, Priority circuit support. See all packages.
Questions to bring to any installer
- Which circuits will the battery power in an outage?
- Roughly how long will it run my essentials, and my air conditioning?
- How does it recharge if the outage lasts several days?
- Can I add more storage later?
- How does this interact with net metering credits?
The last one is covered in our net metering guide. For the rest, call (727) 555-0148 or request a free quote.