Vermont utility is the first to offer Tesla battery for backup power

Vermont’s Green Mountain Power is the first utility in the country to offer Tesla’s Powerwall battery.

The utility wants to install 500 systems in 2016 that will offer four to six hours of backup power for homeowners with a 7 kilowatt-hour battery, the smaller of two Powerwall options introduced by Tesla in 2015.

The price of the PowerWall battery and the SolarEdge inverter has been set at $6,500 (not including installation).