If you thought solar was going to hurt utilities, get a load of solar+storage

As I wrote in my previous post, power utilities are pushing back against rooftop solar, but by doing so they are only accelerating the development of solar+storage, which may prove to be an even bigger threat. Residential solar+storage (my main focus in this post, rather than commercial or utility-scale versions) refers to a) an array of rooftop solar panels connected to b) some means of energy storage, usually a battery or batteries, controlled by c) smart software that enables the system to communicate with the grid. Adding storage to solar radically expands its value — the whole is more than the sum of the parts. It's pretty cool. But it's also expensive as hell at the moment. (Shutterstock) The value of solar+storage When people think about solar+storage, their first question tends to be how much it costs. It makes more sense to approach it from the other end. Price arbitrage (aka buy low, sell high) For the individual solar homeowner, this is the big one. Backup power Demand management Related: