Franklin Home Power Solution
Training Center
Power outages are inevitable and are happening more frequently. Everyone has food in their refrigerators. More and more people are working from home. With modern lifestyles, there are many more reasons why even a very short power outage can cause serious problems for people.
For years, many people have had uninterruptable power sources (UPS) in their home offices, to protect that equipment. Now there's a need to scale that support up to the entire household. A whole-home energy backup system allows you to protect and access all of your electrical appliances and devices whether you experience a short brownout or a longer full-grid outage.
Designing the appropriate backup system can be based on many factors, including lifestyle needs, solar production, and more, define backup battery needs.
This article explores a few benefits associated with using a battery backup system.
Without any further ado, let's get right into it!
How Does Whole-Home Energy Backup Work?
Whole-home backup is a function of a home energy management system. You need a qualified electrician to install the system in your home. The completed system includes batteries to serve as backup and for load-shifting to save money during peak-charge times. The batteries are rechargeable, storing power from your solar PV system, the grid, and even generators, and then providing it at night, when the utility charges the most for grid electricity, and when there are power outages.
With a rapid switchover time, such as the Franklin Home Power (FHP) system's less than 16ms speed, the system works to provide power from the batteries when there is a problem with the grid.
7 Benefits of Whole-home Energy Backup
Improved Safety, Security
Generators, the traditional backup power source, contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Batteries do not produce those fumes. That lowers the risk of carbon monoxide buildup inside your home. They also allow lighting in our home in case of a blackout, preventing trips, falls, and other related home accidents.
In addition, an energy management system is automatic. If nobody is home, the switch to battery backup happens and your critical appliance remains protected and operating.
An area where power and safety overlap is if you only have a PV system. Government regulations state that PV connected directly to homes must shut down during an outage, to protect line workers and the grid. A home energy management system with batteries controls the PV and allows it to still function during an outage.
Comfort
In addition to their environmental impact, generators can be very noisy. Battery backup is much quieter. Integrated with a generator, FHP even allows the homeowner to set times to run the generator to recharge the battery, running the generator when people aren’t home to increase home comfort.
Lifetime Savings
Electrical power solutions help to hold off climate change and meet state sustainability goals. Many federal, state and local government programs offer homeowners incentives for using solar and battery-supported systems. Also, the federal investment tax credit provides a refund for energy storage systems paired with solar.
A higher upfront cost can be balanced by the lifetime savings of a whole-home energy system including backup. For example, solar can save an average homeowner $15-$40k in electricity costs over the system’s lifetime. When you add in potential losses from a lack of backup, damaged electrical equipment, and ruined perishables, savings are even higher.
One essential saving is for the home energy management system that provides backup capabilities. With battery storage, homeowners can load-shift. During peak demand and high utility price periods, the system can run on solar and battery energy. Then, if needed, it can recharge the battery from the grid late at night or during other low-cost periods.
No Need to Refuel
A primary benefit of home battery backup over generators is that they do not need fossil fuel. Instead, home batteries get their power from solar or the grid.
Microgrids are becoming a popular solution for delivering power to homeowners in off-grid situations. This is because they are reliable and continue improving communication between their essential components. Home batteries are virtually maintenance-free once they are installed, and they are convenient to use. In addition, they have no environmental impact.
Enhance Efficiency
Because generators need to be refueled, they cannot last as long as home batteries and can only deliver a limited amount of power. In addition, their mechanical parts need far more maintenance than a battery.
For longer outages, such as a natural disaster, batteries can also work with generators to help the homeowner. When solar isn’t sufficient to power the home, a generator won’t have to run all the time, it can be used to recharge the batteries, then shut off until needed. That extends the run-time of generators when fuel might be in short supply.
Convenient
Standby home energy backup turns on automatically after the power goes off, providing electricity for essential home appliances such as refrigerators, water heaters, air conditioners, washing machines, freezers, and many more.
High Power Capacity
A whole home energy system is designed to handle high immediate power loads. This means that several large appliances can simultaneously run. In addition, there is ample storage capacity to support continuous operations for several hours.
Improves Reliability and Resilience
Whole-home energy backup power provides flexibility ensuring uninterrupted power to consumers whenever they need it. Home power is critical in the modern world, and battery backup provides the system resiliency needed for reliability.
Conclusion
If you already have a solar system in your home, your solar panels will turn off during a power outage without a battery backup. This is one of the limitations of solar power and an easy justification for adding home energy management.
If you are considering adding solar to your home, for that reason and others mentioned in this article, you should consider whole-home management with battery backup.
Whole-home energy backup is a critical component of a home energy management solution. A properly designed energy management system with battery backup is a precious tool for protecting your appliances and devices from power outages.
Should you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact FranklinWH – we'll be glad to hear from you!
