After Enduring Blackouts, More Californians Shifting to Storing Solar

Nothing like a blackout to boost sales of solar panels and battery technology, particularly batteries.

The Northern California blackouts this month, coming after years of increasingly destructive wildfires, showed millions of people how fragile their power grid could be. Now that power has been mostly restored, many residents are trying to reduce their reliance on it, driving sales of solar and battery technology

"It's like controlled chaos right now — it's an overwhelming response," said Tim Hamor, co-owner of Alternative Energy Systems, a solar installer based in Chico, California. In towns around the Chico area, "People went two, three, four, sometimes five days without power" after utility Pacific Gas and Electric shut off power to more than 700,000 customers, Hamor said. His company had double its usual volume of phone calls during the blackout.

Nationwide, fewer than 1 in 10 households that installed solar power will also install a battery, but some installers in California report a sixfold increase in that rate, according to CBS News.

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