Sizing Your Home Energy Storage: How Much Battery Backup Do You Really Need?
Energy uncertainty is fast becoming a reality for millions of households. Luckily, home battery storage allows you to generate, store, and control your own electricity on your own terms. But when it comes to investing in a system, one crucial question stops most homeowners in their tracks: How much battery storage do I actually need?
At Sandbox+ Solar, we are here to help you navigate the energy landscape with reliable support to ensure you are getting a system that works for you. If you’re considering a backup battery for your home in Northern Colorado, we’re here to help!
Why Home Energy Storage Is Changing How We Power Our Homes
At the same time, utility companies are increasing their time-of-use (TOU) pricing, charging peak rates during late afternoon and evening hours when grid demand soars.
A home Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) gives you direct control over your power. By capturing clean energy from your solar panels, or charging from the grid during off-peak hours when electricity is cheapest, a home battery allows you to power your home during expensive peak windows and keep your lights on when the local grid goes dark.
Essential Loads vs. Whole-Home Backup
When shopping for a home battery, the biggest decision you’ll make is determining how much of your home you want to power during an outage. Here are some options to consider.
Basic Backup
Focuses exclusively on powering essential appliances required for comfort and safety. Typical coverage may include refrigerators, Wi-Fi, lights, phone chargers, and garage door openers.
Designated Backup
Designed to keep your home running normally without changing your habits. This can include everything in basic backup, plus high-draw electrical loads like heating and cooling elements, to keep your home running.
Emergency Backup
Perfect for homeowners seeking total energy independence, off-grid capability, or continuous climate control during multi-day outages. Your emergency backup battery can help power everything in your home, including any critical medical equipment you have at home.
Demystifying Battery Specs
Kilowatt-Hours (kWh) = Capacity
This measures how much total energy the battery can hold. Think of it as the size of your energy gas tank. A standard residential battery system typically ranges from 10 kWh to 30 kWh.
Kilowatts (kW) = Power Output
This measures how much energy the battery can discharge at a single instant. Think of it as the size of the spigot. Higher kW ratings allow you to run heavy-draw appliances like air conditioners or well pumps simultaneously.
Determine Your Exact Battery Needs Today
How It Works
When you open the tool, you will be asked to enter your home’s total square footage to ensure the tool can size your battery appropriately. Next, you will input your home appliances so the tool can calculate your home’s potential energy usage and how much storage capacity you would need, based on your backup power goals.
Our tool automatically includes lighting, two small appliance loads, and one laundry load. Plus, there are Quick Start Backup Templates to help get you started. You also have the opportunity to include other appliances under Advanced Options to get a more detailed report.
Once you are ready, you can hit Next, and your residential load requirements will be visible on the next page. Feel free to download the report or reach out to us for a quote!
Understanding Load Requirement Information
- Net General Load: The total instantaneous power (demand) your home draws when your typical appliances are running all at once.
- Minimum Peak kW for Battery Backup: The minimum baseline power output required to keep your essential backup loads running during normal, low-demand moments.
- Amperage Needed: The electrical current flow required to support your net load at standard home voltage (240V).
- Usage Required for Battery Backup: The total energy capacity consumed over a specific time window based on the hours of use you entered.
Work with Our Trusted Solar Experts
Our team at Sandbox+ Solar is here to help you reach your self-sufficiency goals, whatever that looks like for you. We will guide you through the process from initial conversation and site visits to installation and routine maintenance.
If you’re curious about what having a backup energy storage system for your home in Northern Colorado could look like, reach out to us today to evaluate your options.
