Bill Savings vs. Backup Power: Evaluating operational tradeoffs for home solar+storage systems

October 23, 2024

This webinar highlights findings from a recent Berkeley Lab report exploring tradeoffs between the use of home solar+storage systems for backup power versus day-to-day utility bill savings. The study focuses specifically on the “reserve setting” available with most home battery storage systems, which allows the customer to maintain some minimum level of storage in reserve in case of an unforeseen power interruption. The results show that, in most circumstances, the opportunity cost of holding storage capacity in reserve, in terms of foregone bill saving, tends to outweigh any gains in reliability value associated with mitigated power interruptions. The study, published in slide-deck format, is titled “Bill Savings vs. Backup Power: Evaluating operational tradeoffs for home solar+storage systems.” We thank the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office for their support of this work.