Challenge
- The Marrs farmhouse has high energy needs from a large family, farm operations, a construction business, and a large property.
- Storms, high winds, and grid interruptions in Arkansas can disrupt daily family life and farm operations.
- Dave and Jenny wanted to produce more of their own electricity, reducing grid reliance and making their home more sustainable.
Solution
A FranklinWH System was installed, integrating the existing solar system, with 52 solar panels on the barn roof, into robust home energy management with battery storage.
Result
- The farmhouse can generate, store, and use more clean energy on-site while reducing grid reliance.
- The system helps lower electricity bills, improve backup resiliency, and make the home more sustainable for the future.
For Dave and Jenny Marrs, their farmhouse in Arkansas is a busy living place filled with five kids, a blueberry farm, a construction business, and more animals than Dave says he can count. As Dave puts it, “It’s a mess, but it’s a beautiful mess, and it’s ours.”
Powering a Busy Farmhouse More Sustainably
The Marrs farmhouse has an advanced energy demand coming from a full family life, farm operations, and a large property. With so much happening every day, the home requires a reliable energy solution to improve efficiency and slash energy expenses.
Arkansas also faces storms, wind, and grid interruptions. For the Marrs family, losing power means more than an inconvenience. It can disrupt the home, the farm, and the daily routine of a large family.
Dave had already connected with Brad Barron, CEO of Solar by Barron, during a previous project focused on sustainable home solutions where they explored how solar could work even in climates people might not expect to be perfect for solar generation.
That experience opened the door to a larger question for the Marrs farmhouse: how could they produce more of their own electricity, store it, and manage it, maximizing self-consumption and keeping their home powered even when the grid goes down? As Brad explained, the goal was to help the Marrs family generate their own electricity and make sure they were “taken care of when the block goes dark.”
All these led them to FranklinWH
Pairing Solar with the FranklinWH System
Solar by Barron designed and installed the whole-home energy management system for the Marrs farmhouse, integrating rooftop solar with the FranklinWH System.
The project capitalizes on the property itself. Dave’s large barn provided ample roof space for 52 solar panels, giving the home a powerful foundation for clean energy generation.
At the heart of the installation is the FranklinWH System, consisting of the aGate intelligent management controller and a 15 kWh aPower 2 battery unit. Together, they create a coherent and flexible energy management system that coordinates solar, battery storage, grid, home loads, and future expansion options.
As Tim West, solar design expert at Solar by Barron, explained, the system is designed with future expansion in mind. Additional batteries can be added later, and the aGate provides flexibility to integrate a backup generator, a future EV, and an intelligent management module that allows homeowners to control energy use through a customer-facing app.
This intelligent control is especially important for a home such as the Marrs farmhouse. The family needed more than a simple backup battery. They needed a system that could automate energy optimization for daily savings, reinforce backup resiliency, and enable long-term energy sustainability.
The FranklinWH System also features smart individual load management, helping homeowners prioritize essential needs and make better use of available stored energy. Dave described it as having “a certain amount of juice” and being able to delegate where it goes. For a home with many different energy needs, that kind of control matters a lot in improving overall system efficiency.
Dave praises the system as the symphony of form and function. After the battery was mounted, he joked that it looked like “a Lambo sitting on the side of the barn.” Dave was also relieved that Jenny would not be upset when she saw the aPower battery because, in his words, “it looks so pretty” and “so nice.”
Lower Bills, Backup Confidence, and a More Sustainable Home
Dave was so excited about the technology, the savings, the whole-home backup capability, and the visual appeal of the system. Jenny connected with the sustainability impact and what it represented for their family.
With 52 solar panels generating electricity, the system can distribute clean energy during the day, shift stored energy to peak evening hours, take over immediately when outages occur, and send surplus electricity back to the grid when available. For Dave, this means an additional way to offset the family’s electricity bill while making better use of the energy produced on-site.
The FranklinWH App also gave Dave a clear view of system performance. “The app is showing me all the energy and money that I'm saving,” Dave said. With the FranklinWH System, Dave no longer needs to be budget-conscious on energy consumption. “As a dad, when I notice someone turns up the thermostat one degree, I feel like it’s pretty much okay, because, we are getting full sun now, so we’re good,” Dave noted.
For Jenny, the value was even broader. She focused on what the system means for the family and the future. She loved knowing that they were doing something that made their lives better while also being better for the earth, their children, and future generations.
Conclusion
With the FranklinWH System Installed, the Marrs farmhouse is now better prepared for the future. Dave gets a system that allows him to take full control of energy supply and use so he can run a full family life and farm operation without worrying about the grid. For Jenny, the system aligns with her value of creating a cleaner and more sustainable future for her children and the generations that follow.
