So, here in Austin, we have Base that is offering a similar plan. But they can drain your batteries to 20% before a major event. And if there is a power outage, then you have maybe an hour or two on batteries before you completely lose power.
What they want to do is arbitrage based on the ERCOT power market, and you pay them to put batteries at your house, so that they can make money from you.
But they’re providing small battery packs with low kilowatt ratings and low kWh ratings. Even at full, if there was an extended outage during the worst part of winter (think IcePocalypse) or the worst part of summer, you might be able to power dual HVAC units plus your refrigerators and other critical loads for just 1-2 hours, before you’re out.
If that does happen during an IcePocalypse, where power is off for a week, that battery pack isn’t going to help you much. You need both higher peak kilowatt numbers (~24 kilowatts for an old-style 100-amp mains feed), and higher kWh ratings for the battery pack. Of course, those battery capacities are probably going to be greatly reduced if they are installed outdoors and you let them get too cold.
But, if you force the peak power and kWh ratings up to where they really need to be, then you’re spending the same amount of money (or more) compared to buying a gas generator.
The page at <a href="https://epicelectrical.com/what-is-base-power/" rel="nofollow">https://epicelectrical.com/what-is-base-power/ has a good overview of the problems as they relate to loads here in Texas.
bradknowles · · focus · HN ↗
What they want to do is arbitrage based on the ERCOT power market, and you pay them to put batteries at your house, so that they can make money from you.
But they’re providing small battery packs with low kilowatt ratings and low kWh ratings. Even at full, if there was an extended outage during the worst part of winter (think IcePocalypse) or the worst part of summer, you might be able to power dual HVAC units plus your refrigerators and other critical loads for just 1-2 hours, before you’re out.
If that does happen during an IcePocalypse, where power is off for a week, that battery pack isn’t going to help you much. You need both higher peak kilowatt numbers (~24 kilowatts for an old-style 100-amp mains feed), and higher kWh ratings for the battery pack. Of course, those battery capacities are probably going to be greatly reduced if they are installed outdoors and you let them get too cold.
But, if you force the peak power and kWh ratings up to where they really need to be, then you’re spending the same amount of money (or more) compared to buying a gas generator.
The page at <a href="https://epicelectrical.com/what-is-base-power/" rel="nofollow">https://epicelectrical.com/what-is-base-power/ has a good overview of the problems as they relate to loads here in Texas.