Hurricane Idalia’s Latest Path

Around 8 a.m Wednesday morning, Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 hurricane bringing 120 mph winds capable of taking down trees and power lines. Tampa, Fort Myers, Naples, and Homosassa Springs are experiencing flooding. Streets on the Gulf side of Florida are flooded, and over 160,000 customers were left without power. As of now, Idalia is making its way through Savannah, Georgia bringing storm surges up to 11 feet, more destructive winds, and inland flash flooding. Idalia will make its way into Charleston, South Carolina later on tonight, and finish up tomorrow morning in the Outer Banks of North Carolina bringing heavy rain before going out to the coast. Living in the south east means that we expect these storms on an annual basis. Why not prepare for power outages from these hurricanes with energy storage units? Owners of a solar energy system can produce excess energy that gets stored in energy storage units so their homes are prepared from grid outages.

Hurricane Energy Storage: Ready for Idalia with Advanced Energy Solutions

Renu Energy Solutions is at the forefront of providing hurricane-ready energy storage solutions. Our offerings, such as the Tesla Powerwalls, Enphase IQ Batteries, LG ESS Home 8, and FranklinWH Batteries, cater to both solar energy users and those without solar systems.

Why Opt For Hurricane Energy Storage?

The primary benefit is resilience. By harnessing the sun’s energy, homeowners can charge these energy storage systems without relying on the grid. This ensures uninterrupted power, especially during unpredictable hurricane-induced outages. Furthermore, even households without a solar energy setup can harness the power of these cutting-edge energy storage solutions.

Investing in our energy storage solutions, like the popular Tesla Powerwall, means ensuring your home remains powered during critical times. Unique features such as the ‘Storm Mode’ in the Powerwall app allow users to activate ‘Backup Reserve’, optimizing the battery’s stored energy during storms. Likewise, Enphase, LG, and FranklinWH offer intuitive apps for their energy storage systems, granting users flexible configurations tailored for severe weather scenarios.

Stay powered, stay safe, and be hurricane-ready with Renu Energy Solutions.

Conclusion

Preparing for Hurricane’s like Idalia is easy when a customer invests in an energy storage unit. Those who invest in a home solar energy system with energy storage units will not only be able to keep their power on during the initial outage, but also continue to charge the energy storage units via solar production from their system. For customers who experience power outages not only during hurricane season, but also year round, investing in solar energy with energy storage is a no-brainer.

System Monitoring: It’s Necessary! 

System monitoring is crucial for understanding and maximizing the production of your solar energy system. By monitoring your system, you gain valuable information about the output of your solar panels, panel performance throughout different seasons, hardware defects, and energy consumption. This information helps you identify and troubleshoot any issues with your system, as well as determine the most productive hours of the day.

Intro To Inverters

To begin monitoring your solar energy system, it’s important to familiarize yourself with your system’s inverter. The inverter plays a key role in converting the direct current (DC) energy generated by the sun into alternating current (AC) energy that can be used in your home. Additionally, inverters track panel health and can indicate if any panels require maintenance due to substandard production.

There are several reputable inverter manufacturers in the market, such as Enphase, SolarEdge, and Tesla. Each of these manufacturers provides their own monitoring app: the Enphase Installer Portal, mySolarEdge app, and Tesla app, respectively. These apps allow you to access real-time data about your system’s performance, including energy production, panel health, and maintenance alerts

Energy Optimization Strategies

By closely monitoring your energy usage, you can identify the peak hours of production and the periods when your appliances consume the most energy. This information is especially useful if you have an electric vehicle charger connected to the internet. With system monitoring software, you can determine the peak energy hours and schedule your vehicle to charge during those times, maximizing the use of solar energy.

Another benefit of system monitoring is the ability to optimize your energy usage and combat your utility company’s Time-Of-Use (TOU) billing policy. TOU billing charges higher rates for electricity during the most popular hours of the day, typically in the afternoon and evening. By knowing these expensive hours, you can strategically plan to charge your electric vehicle and energy storage units during the cheapest hours, reducing your overall electricity costs.

Maintaining Your Solar Investment 

Regularly checking your solar system’s monitoring data allows you to maintain your investment effectively. Pay attention to module health and energy production history. If you notice that some panels are underperforming or your system is not producing as much energy as expected, it may be time for maintenance. Our friends at Sun Service Specialists can help troubleshoot any issues with your solar energy system and provide appropriate solutions to ensure optimal performance.

In summary, system monitoring provides valuable insights into your solar energy system’s production, panel health, and energy consumption. By understanding your system’s monitoring data, you can optimize energy usage, reduce costs, and maintain the performance of your solar investment.

Tesla Powerwall 2

Everyone knows what it feels like to lose power. Lights start flickering and suddenly that show you were on the edge of your seat watching goes blank. Then, you go into panic mode wondering how long the outage will last and how long you will be without essential appliances like refrigerators, air conditioning, internet and medical equipment. Power outages can become a worry of the past with a Tesla Powerwall battery. When paired with a solar energy system, the Tesla Powerwall stores any unused energy the solar system produces so your home has the necessary power on standby in the case of an outage. 

The Tesla Powerwall 2 stores AC energy from solar energy systems that can be used for self-consumption, time-based control, and backup during storms. Customers who are interested in managing how their energy is used can set times for the powerwall to supply key appliances like refrigerators, microwaves, electric stoves and ovens. Tesla vehicle owners can even pair a Wall Connector with a Powerwall to use as the main bank for at home electric vehicle charging. 

$500 Rebate Per Powerwall

Customers who purchase and register a Tesla Powerwall from June 15th until October 31st will be able to take advantage of a $500 rebate per Powerwall. Owners of a new Tesla Powerwall can redeem this rebate in the Tesla App starting on August 1st and ending November 30th. Since Summer is here, now is a better time than ever to invest in a Tesla Powerwall. Whether you are interested in a solar energy system or want to add energy storage to your solar system, you will be able to take advantage of this $500 rebate for a limited time.

*The Tesla Powerwall Rebate can only be received if a Tesla Powerwall is installed and registered by Tesla by October 1st, 2023.

Take Advantage Now With Renu!

As the most tenured and largest Tesla Powerwall Certified Installer in the Carolinas, Renu Energy Solutions has a team of licensed electricians in North Carolina and South Carolina that can deliver and install your Tesla Powerwall. We are confident in providing you with the best energy storage installation so your home is prepared to not have any power outages.

Interested in a solar and energy storage system? Let Renu Energy Solutions be your installer, our team of solar experts can help design and install the perfect solar energy system to fit your needs. Investing in solar now is another great way to take advantage of Tesla’s $500 Powerwall rebate. Tesla Powerwalls included in solar installations are valid through the current rebate. To learn more about solar energy for your home, click here!

North Carolina-based Renu Energy Solutions installed the rooftop solar system. The panels are estimated to generate close to 485,000 kWh of on-site, carbon-free electricity in the first year. North Carolinaranks fourth nationally in total solar installed capacity, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) tabulations. The Truliant operations center rooftop installation is the first such solar project at Hanes Mall. The credit union also has installed a building management and energy efficiency series of upgrades, including LED lighting for interiors and parking lots, as well as HVAC (heating, ventilation and cooling) improvements.

To continue reading more about Renu Energy Solutions’ Truliant Project, read the EnergyTech article here! 

What Are Inverters?

Investing in a solar system is a big decision that requires a consultation, system design phase, and installation. Most solar energy systems have a warranted lifespan of 25 years, so it’s imperative that customers choose the right components that match with what they want to get out of their system. Most customers focus on components like panels and energy storage units, but inverters play a big role in how a customer keeps track of their system’s production.

Inverters convert the direct current (DC) of energy that solar panels produce from sunlight into alternating current (AC) of energy that can be used in the home for appliances and electronics. While this function may seem pretty basic, there are two main types of inverters that customers can choose from.

Optimizers vs Microinverters

The two main types of inverters that residential customers tend to go with are optimizers and microinverters. Optimizers have a central inverter that is located on the side of the house while microinverters have smaller inverters located underneath each panel.

One of the main benefits of choosing an optimizer for your solar energy system is the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT). MPPT ensures that customers get the most out of each panel, even if some panels are shaded at any point during the day. A SolarEdge Single-Phase Inverter allows for panel level monitoring and home energy consumption monitoring so customers can see how their produced energy is being used. The SolarEdge Single-Phase Inverter also uses one main inverter on the side of the house that is easy to install, easy to troubleshoot, lightweight, smaller in size, and high in efficiency. As DC energy gets converted to AC energy on the side of the home that work is done usually in a cooler temperature which makes the inverter work more efficient and increases the product life. SolarEdge uses string inverters + power optimizers that help maximize production from panels. On top of production, SolarEdge inverters utilize a feature called SafeDC which shuts down DC voltage in the event of an emergency.

A primary benefit of choosing microinverters for your solar energy system is that microinverters convert DC energy to AC energy directly underneath each individual panel. Having inverters located underneath the panels allows for monitoring of each individual panel. If one microinverter failed, other microinverters in the system would stay active, allowing customers to easily identify which panel is having issues. Enphase Microinverters have a feature called Sunlight Backup which stores energy in each microinverter in case there is a power outage. With Sunlight Backup, customers keep their low power loads on during an outage without the need of an energy storage unit. During the case of a system expansion, additional microinverters attach underneath new panels without the need to make adjustments to other microinverters in the system.

Photo courtesy of Ornate Solar

Which Inverter Option Is Best For My System?

Choosing between different system components can be a challenge as each solar system is unique depending on what the customers needs are. One system may benefit from a SolarEdge Single-Phase Inverter while the other may benefit from utilizing Enphase Microinverters. 

Customers installing a larger solar system would benefit from using a SolarEdge Single-Phase Inverter as the system requires fewer units than microinverters. Having a centralized inverter vs individual inverters makes for a cost effective solution. Along with cost, SolarEdge Single-Phase Inverters utilize power optimization that has a track record of being reliable since they’ve been on the market for a long time. Besides historic success, SolarEdge Single-Phase Inverters are warranted out-of-the-box for up to 12 years with the option to upgrade to 25 years. 

For smaller systems with more complex designs and intermittent shade, customers would benefit from using Enphase Microinverters. Since microinverters don’t use string inverters during the installation process, systems have more room for different array layouts and expansions down the road. 

Interested In Going Solar?

Investing in a solar energy system means you’re investing in energy independence that brings savings and clean energy down the road. Would you like to find out if solar is right for you? Click our link here to get in touch with a solar energy consultant who can help get you the right system with the right components for a smart, reliable, solar investment.