Batteries capable of storing solar energy can stabilize the grid during peaks and keep homes running on cloudy days.
Home batteries in California are revolutionizing the energy grid. The technology allows homes with solar panels to save energy throughout sunny summer days, and then send any unused energy back into the grid. “According to the energy-focused nonprofit Common Charge, as the mercury climbed on October 6, home batteries from Tesla and Sunrun provided enough to power every home in San Francisco and San Jose, whose combined population is about 1.8 million, during peak hours,” Matt Simon writes for Grist.
Home batteries are beneficial to all ratepayers in an area, not just the home they’re attached to: if demand outpaces a state’s supply of energy, it is cheaper to draw on home batteries than to bring in power from other states.
The batteries also solve solar energy's unreliability problem: gone are the days when solar-powered buildings only had energy on sunny days. Some companies are also investing in vehicle-to-grid technology, which allows electric vehicles, “basically giant batteries on wheels,” to return unused energy to the grid, Grist reports.
Read the full story: California just showed how home batteries will radically remake the grid
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