The Future of Home Energy Storage: How Solar Batteries Are Driving Sustainable Cities

Cities across the globe are grappling with the need to build a more sustainable future for their residents. The challenges they face include aging electrical grids, increasing overall energy demand, and the heavy carbon emissions from legacy energy generators, including coal-fired and natural gas plants.

In the United States, for example, the country’s 100-year-old power grid is struggling to grapple with power needs that are 14 times greater than they were in 1950. It’s no wonder that the country experiences an average of 250 power outages a year. 

One solution could be residential solar panel systems paired with solar battery storage. 

How Solar Batteries Support Sustainable Cities

Solar batteries are most often part of a home energy management system that allows homeowners to capture and store electricity generated by their solar panels. During the day, solar panels can produce more energy than a household consumes. The batteries can store this excess clean power for later use. 

From the homeowner’s standpoint, the advantages of solar batteries include offering greater energy independence, helping save money on energy bills, and providing power backup during grid outages (depending on how their system is set up). 

In 2023, roughly 13% of installed residential solar systems in the US included batteries, but that number is expected to double by the year 2028. 

Solar storage systems may be booming among homeowners, but their real power could be their collective impact on the sustainability efforts of cities. 

Reducing Carbon Emissions

Solar batteries store energy for use in the evenings or on cloudy days, when solar panels aren’t as effective. They lower a home’s reliance on the electrical grid. If the grid is powered by fossil fuels, that can mean fewer carbon emissions. At scale, these combined systems can significantly lower a city’s carbon footprint, helping the city meet its climate goals. Just consider that the residential solar market alone eliminates 37 metric tons of carbon dioxide in the US every year.

Supporting Peak Energy Demand

Cities can work with their residents to program their solar batteries to discharge during peak electricity usage times. This “peak shaving,” in turn, can flatten the energy demand curve, improving the overall stability and efficiency of the power grid. Such efforts can be even more crucial during severe weather events, such as major heatwaves and cold snaps, where energy needs across a city soar. 

Microgrids 

One of the most promising aspects of home energy management systems is that they allow individual homes to operate as semi-autonomous units within a local microgrid. Each system strengthens the microgrid, helping the entire community become more energy resilient. 

Less Fossil Fuel Infrastructure

As residential batteries provide more flexible energy storage capacity, cities can avoid building new fossil fuel power plants that run during times of high demand (when solar and wind power may not be available). The combination of solar plus battery storage can also support the phaseout of coal-fired and natural gas plants. 

How Cities Can Support Solar Storage Adoption

Currently, the US federal government is stepping back from supporting clean energy adoption. That means it falls to states and cities to drive the transition to a sustainable future. Fortunately, local policymakers have a wide range of tools to help speed up the adoption of residential solar systems, including solar batteries. 

Permitting and Interconnection

Some of the lowest-hanging fruit when it comes to encouraging renewable energy adoption is to streamline the permitting and interconnection processes for solar and storage installation. Lowering bureaucratic hurdles can slash wait times and costs for homeowners to get their systems up and running. 

Direct Incentives

Solar batteries are a key part of helping a city stabilize its grid. Local energy utilities can offer enticing rebates for homeowners who install batteries along with solar panels or who add them to their existing systems. Such rebates could tip the scales for homeowners on the fence about investing in solar batteries. 

Cities can work with their local utilities to design and implement these rebate programs. For example, city leaders can seek out state or federal funds to help finance rebates and other reward programs for solar adoption. 

Updated Building Codes

Cities can also incorporate home energy management systems into their building codes for new construction and major renovations. These new codes will help ensure that battery storage becomes a standard feature in homes as the community continues to grow. 

Create Virtual Power Plants

As more homeowners install energy management systems, including energy storage, utilities across the US are exploring the potential of building virtual power plants (VPPs). VPPs are networks of decentralized energy resources, such as home batteries, that the utility connects using cloud-based software. By aggregating hundreds or even thousands of residential batteries, utilities can effectively mimic the function of a traditional power plant. 

Cities can support this type of big-picture thinking by streamlining the permitting and interconnection process for homeowners who want to participate in their local VPP. By easing barriers to entry, cities will make it easier for residents to join the program and inevitably speed up the adoption process. Cities can also join the program themselves by connecting battery storage systems at public facilities or electric vehicle fleets. 

VPPs can be an incredibly powerful city asset, helping to balance supply and demand, especially during severe weather. They can also save cities from having to invest in costly energy grid expansions and upgrades. 

Powering the Urban Energy Revolution

The path to a sustainable urban future powered by clean energy systems does have its challenges. The upfront costs of installing solar panels and battery systems are a big budgeting barrier for many homeowners. Integrating large numbers of residential batteries into a city’s existing power grid also requires careful planning and coordination on the part of local utilities.

However, the benefits of widespread solar battery adoption are well worth the cost and effort. When regular homeowners can use solar panel systems and batteries in an integrated home energy management system to generate, store, and manage their energy usage, cities benefit.

These systems help cities slash carbon emissions, improve air quality, and strengthen their energy security. 

Cities have a vital role to play in unlocking the full potential of residential energy storage. Through smart policies, incentives, and public-private partnerships, local leaders can increase solar battery adoption. 

Ultimately, the success of the clean energy revolution will depend on city leaders who create a compelling vision of the future, build broad public support, and mobilize resources to create a brighter, cleaner, and more secure urban future for their residents.