Installers and experts say batteries can be a good source of backup power for homes and businesses. They could also be a moneymaker, though not yet for most Minnesotans.
By Walker Orenstein
The Minnesota Star Tribune
Below is a preview of the article. Please view the full article here: https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-is-now-offering-rebates-for-home-batteries-should-you-get-one/601194080.
Kevin Bornfleth knows severe storms are getting stronger as climate change intensifies. The Minnesotan read about widespread blackouts hitting Texas during a 2021 winter cold snap.
So Bornfleth, 54, decided to buy a $15,000 home battery system along with a new rooftop solar array at his home in Prior Lake.
“If [an outage] happened in the winter we wouldn’t have heat,” Bornfleth said. “We’re on a well so we wouldn’t have water. We’re all very dependent on the electricity, and so we wanted to make sure that we would be able to cover our needs.”
On Monday, workers from TruNorth Solar were busy installing a stack of black glass solar panels on Bornfleth’s home on a quiet cul-de-sac.
TruNorth was also preparing wiring for the white Tesla Powerwall battery, a roughly 3-foot-tall square box mounted on the wall in the corner of his garage that can power a house.
This kind of battery system is exactly what Minnesota’s DFL lawmakers want more people to install. In 2023, Democrats who controlled the Legislature approved $7 million in battery rebates that are available now for homes and small businesses as part of a state budget that included incentives for other climate-friendly technology like heat pumps, electric bikes and electric cars.
Of all that green tech, home batteries might be the least well-understood by the public. But many utilities and environmental nonprofits view them as an important part of Minnesota’s transition to carbon-free electricity.
Not only could small home batteries save customers money, but utilities want to use them to reduce strain on the grid and burn less natural gas when energy demand is highest, like a hot summer day.
That future is not quite here yet.
What Batteries are Good for in Minnesota
For now, the main use for a battery is simply for cleaner backup power at your house should the electricity go out, said Colby Abazs, a battery expert for the state’s Clean Energy Resource Teams. The organization is a partnership between the state, University of Minnesota and others to help people adopt clean energy products.
The average U.S. household buys roughly 30 kilowatt hours of electricity a day. One Tesla Powerwall stores 13.5 kilowatt hours. But during an outage, people typically don’t need to keep everything running, Abazs said. Most people aim for enough energy to feed critical appliances like a freezer, a few lights or medical equipment like a CPAP machine, he said. Customers can pick and choose what they want to stay connected in an outage.
Abazs said a rooftop solar system alone won’t power a house when the grid is down. It disconnects from the grid to keep line workers safe. A battery fueled by solar, however, can keep electricity flowing to a house during an outage if there is adequate sun to recharge it.
A battery could also be a smart investment for a small business, like to keep refrigeration running at a convenience store, Abazs said. “Your financial benefit is you don’t lose perishables during an outage,” he said.
Minnesota does not usually face the lengthy power outages experienced elsewhere in the country. Customer of Minnesota’s three investor-owned utility companies — Xcel Energy, Minnesota Power and Otter Tail Power — faces less time when the power is out on average per year than the national average, according to state regulators. But customers of those Minnesota utilities do experience outages more frequently than the national average.
Again, this was just a small portion of Walker’s article. Please view the full article here:
“Minnesota is now offering rebates for home batteries. Should you get one?” Star Tribune, 12 Dec. 2024, https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-is-now-offering-rebates-for-home-batteries-should-you-get-one/601194080. Accessed 13 Dec. 2024.
