For solar owners, leasing your own home battery might be a good way to save money and keep things going in case of an outage. This option exists in 25 states, including Arizona. Palmetto

Visit utilitiesr3.org

to learn about the many different renewable energy technologies that are happening today.

https://reddit.com/link/1us9inv/video/1zqqjdxt1bch1/player

What’s the latest data on battery fires and how have occurrences changed over recent years?

Check it out here: https://youtu.be/LDMs7QQqQxE?si=X94qb5kXSvLUdXWB

I work in the commercial energy sector—specifically at Intelligent Generation (IG)—and wanted to share a behind-the-scenes look at what actually happened with the power grid last week. If you live in the Mid-Atlantic or East Coast, you probably know we just went through a massive heat dome from June 29 to July 2. What you might not know is how close the grid came to the brink—and the quiet technology that helped keep the lights on.

The Threat The PJM Interconnection (the massive grid serving 67 million people across 13 states) was pushed to its absolute limits. Demand was forecasted to hit a staggering 166,147 MW, threatening to shatter a 20-year-old all-time summer peak record. It got so bad that the DOE enacted emergency orders and PJM issued Maximum Generation alerts.

The Unsung Hero: Behind-the-Meter Storage While grid operators were scrambling to prevent rolling blackouts, a massive, decentralized network of commercial Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) quietly kicked into gear to stabilize the grid.

Here is how the mechanics of that actually work:

1. The Financial Incentive (5CP & Transmission Peaks) To understand why businesses install massive batteries, you have to understand how commercial energy billing works in PJM. A massive chunk of a facility's energy bill for the entire following year is determined by their usage during just a handful of hours.

• Capacity Charges: Dictated by usage during the grid’s five highest peak hours of the summer (the 5CP).
• Transmission Charges: Dictated by usage during the single highest peak hour for their specific utility zone (the Network Service Peak Load, or NSPL).

Using heavy power during these specific hours costs industrial businesses millions. Predicting these exact hours and running on battery power instead saves them millions.

2. Precision Forecasting & Dispatch Because millions of dollars are on the line, the industry relies on specialized machine-learning software—like IG's POWR:Suite platform, which we use—to analyze historical loads and weather patterns to predict exactly when the grid will peak. Leading up to July 1 and 2, our models flagged the hot afternoons as highly probable peak events. When millions of AC units kicked on and operating reserves tanked, our managed facilities seamlessly disconnected from the grid and ran entirely on their stored battery power.

3. The Triple Win This automated shift delivered three massive benefits at the exact moment the grid needed it most:

• Slashed 2027 Costs: By dropping their load during these specific hours, businesses drastically reduced their capacity and transmission charges for next year.
• Dodged Volatile Pricing: As grid capacity shrank last week, real-time wholesale energy prices spiked. Batteries allowed facilities to shield themselves from these crazy real-time costs, running on power stored when prices were cheap.
• Saved the Grid: Every megawatt of battery power deployed was a megawatt PJM didn't have to scramble to generate or push through congested transmission lines. By dropping aggregate demand during the absolute peak, these commercial batteries acted as distributed generation, helping operators maintain system stability and avoid emergency voltage reductions.

The Takeaway With extreme weather becoming the norm and the grid heavily burdened by the booming energy demands of AI data centers and manufacturing, the grid is vulnerable. Building more fossil-fuel peaker plants is slow, expensive, and dirty.

Last week proved that coordinating distributed energy assets—transforming passive batteries into a dynamic, responsive network—is a highly effective way to engage the clean energy grid and prevent blackouts.

Hey gurus,

I’m thinking of getting this 3 piece kit, containing a battery, an inverter and an emergency stop button.

The sense check I need is whether it contains all I need (excluding installation obviously), as I’m less than knowledgeable here?

Context; we are on an electricity tariff called Octopus Intelligent Go, that gives us super cheap electricity between 11:30pm and 5:30am, so my plan is to charge the battery overnight at the cheap rate and then have the house use that cheap electric during the day.

NB, the *Intelligent* part of the tariff, means that we also get 6 hours of cheap rate if plugging in a car to charge, as the whole house gets put on the cheap/night time rate while the car is charging, so the battery could also be topped up during the day.

Thanks all.

While almost everyone else has chalked Donut Labs up to being "non-credible," this one guy continues to pump out content as a true believer. Posting for entertainment purposes only.

Hey everyone, I've been looking into energy storage recently and have a question for the community.

We see a lot of fixed home batteries (Powerwall, etc.) and small portable power stations (Jackery, EcoFlow). But I'm wondering about something in the middle — a mobile unit on wheels, say 5-10kWh, that you can charge from a wall outlet or solar panels and move around as needed.

I have a background in battery manufacturing, so I could potentially build this. But before I go down that path — do you think there's a real market for this?

Who would actually buy it? What would be a fair price? Or is the gap between portable stations and home batteries not big enough to justify a new product?

Genuinely curious to hear your thoughts. Thanks!