Solar Helps Neighborhood Survive Helene
Sundance customers Rob Denton and Holly Berry installed a solar system that was commissioned back in December 2022. The system consists of thirty-one REC 325watt solar panels paired with a 12K SolArk inverter. The system was designed to be ‘battery capable’, meaning battery storage could be added later. Sundance added an eVault Max lithium-ion battery after the initial installation. This 18.5K battery from Fortress Power added robust storage for the power produced by their solar system.
When Hurricane Helene struck our region in late September of 2024, Rob and Holly were well prepared in terms of power. We asked them to report on how things went for them and their neighborhood and the following is their firsthand account.
“A look out the window showed the neighborhood completely dark.”
Small debris began falling on our roof from wind awakening us around 3:00 AM to the expected storm. A storm that was remnants of Hurricane Helene and predicted to be among the worst to ever hit our mountains in Western North Carolina. In the aftermath we would conclude that “remnants” was a vastly understated term.
A look out the window showed the neighborhood completely dark. That’s the only way we ever know that there is a utility grid blackout because our battery, charged by our rooftop solar array, silently takes over the power duties in our house when the grid goes down. Little did we know that eleven days would pass before our neighbors’ lights would come back on.
“…we were not unprepared, and not surprised, either.”
We always believed that this situation – a utility grid-wide blackout – could last for days, even weeks. So, we were not unprepared, and not surprised, either. In 2021, when we designed our new passive solar home with a few earth-ship features we decided to include a rooftop solar array capable of providing all of our electricity needs. We would enter into a net metering agreement with our local utility, powering our house and selling the utility our electrons during the sunny days, then buying them back at night and on cloudy days. In consultation with the pros at Sundance Power Systems we arrived at a system size of just over 10 kilowatts collected by 31 solar panels. (It turns out that approximately twelve hundred kilowatt hours produced on our roof each month meets our electricity consumption needs almost perfectly.)
“We committed to an 18.5 kilowatt hour lithium-ion battery”
We committed to the design and construction began. However, we then began thinking of how to take the next step – self-insuring against inevitable utility grid failures. We could purchase a noisy fossil-fuel powered generator or a large battery of either lead-acid or lithium-ion design. We believed, in consultation with the pros, that the lithium device would offer a longer battery life – with all its discharge and charge cycles – than a lead-acid type. More cost but more longevity. So, we committed to an 18.5 kilowatt hour lithium-ion battery and an inverter that would manage both the net-metering and battery back-up functions.
The utility blackout lasted eleven days and we were the only neighborhood family with electricity without the noisy, and polluting, generators we constantly heard nearby. Our battery ran our water well, our heating-cooling pump, our clothes washer and all of our lights, discharging to lows of 45% – 60% battery charge by daybreak and then re-charging to 100% with only a few hours of sun each day. (We did not attempt to power our hot tub, clothes dryer, or electric vehicle.) After a couple of cloudy days post-storm, we were blessed with lots of sun for many days.
“…our self-reliant preparedness made us popular with the neighbors”
Of course, our self-reliant preparedness made us popular with the neighbors, some of whom we hardly knew, some we had never met. We provided everyone with hot showers. We had necessary refrigeration for medicines needed by multiple folks. We hosted group meals daily and became a gathering place. Neighbors brought vessels for take-home water and delivered water to others, many beyond our neighborhood. Our truck hauled a family’s chest freezer full of food from their house to ours and plugged it in before things melted.
That the disaster brought us, as a community, closer together, is an understatement. We cannot imagine how these folks ages 1-87 would have coped through this time with no electricity, water, refrigeration. We didn’t expect the social aspect of survival to be as prominent as it was. But isn’t that how ancient peoples survived everyday life, by pulling together? We have new friends and less fear of the next event that will inevitably come our way. Yes, our energy independence was a large financial investment but the coming years of free electricity represent dollar savings that will recover all the set-up costs. And how could you even place a price on the experience we just had, anyway?
In gratitude and sustainability,
Rob Denton and Holly Berry, Candler NC
