Home Battery Storage 

When the grid fails, your battery system detects the outage in milliseconds and automatically disconnects your home from the grid (a process called islanding) for safety. It then takes over powering the loads you've designated, drawing from stored energy and recharging from your solar panels during the day. Depending on your battery size and what loads you've chosen to back up, you can keep essential appliances running for hours or your whole home running for days.

Home battery storage delivers four major benefits: reliable backup power during outages, reduced dependence on the grid, maximized value from your solar production, and lower electricity costs when paired with time-of-use utility rates. In states with demand response programs, your utility may also pay you for letting them draw from your battery during peak grid events, turning your battery into a small revenue stream on top of the savings.

No — batteries can be installed without solar and still provide backup power during outages by charging from the grid. However, the financial case is much stronger when batteries are paired with solar, because you get the 30% federal tax credit and you eliminate the dependency on grid energy entirely. Most homeowners who install batteries are doing so as part of a solar project, but standalone battery installs are increasingly common where outage protection is the primary goal.

Runtime depends on three things: your battery's capacity (measured in kWh), what loads you're running, and whether your solar panels are recharging the battery during daylight hours. A typical 13.5 kWh home battery can power essential loads — refrigerator, lights, Wi-Fi, basic HVAC — for roughly 8 to 24 hours. With solar recharging during the day, that same battery can keep a home running indefinitely through most outage scenarios. We size every system to match your specific home and outage priorities.

Both options exist. Partial home backup covers a designated subset of circuits — typically refrigeration, lighting, internet, and heating — and is the more affordable choice. Whole-home backup uses a larger battery (or multiple batteries) to run everything in your home, including HVAC, well pumps, and EV chargers. We help you balance what you need backed up against budget, and design the system around your priorities rather than defaulting to one approach.

Yes. Home batteries qualify for the 30% federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) through 2032. When installed alongside solar, the entire battery cost is eligible. As of 2023, standalone battery installs also qualify as long as the battery has at least 3 kWh of capacity. The credit applies to the equipment, installation labor, permitting, and any required electrical upgrades. Many New England states also offer additional rebates and demand response programs that stack on top of the federal credit.

Modern lithium-ion home batteries are typically warrantied for 10 years and rated for around 5,000-10,000 charge cycles, which translates to roughly 10-15 years of real-world use with daily cycling. The newer lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries we offer have even longer cycle life and run cooler, making them safer in the close-to-living-space installations common in New England basements and garages. Most batteries also retain 70-80% of their original capacity at the end of their warranty period.

Yes, modern home batteries are designed for indoor installation in garages, basements, and utility rooms — they're UL-listed for safety and include built-in thermal management, fire suppression, and automatic shutdown systems. Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry, which we recommend for most New England installs, runs at lower temperatures than older lithium-ion batteries and has dramatically lower thermal runaway risk. All installs follow local fire code, including clearance requirements and ventilation where applicable.