Research: Most US properties can lower your expenses and affordably climate blackouts with photo voltaic plus storage
by Mark Golden for Stanford Information
Stanford CA (SPX) Aug 05, 2025
Most U.S. households may cut back their electrical energy prices and endure energy outages by putting in rooftop photo voltaic panels and battery packs, in accordance with a brand new Stanford College examine, although individuals may have to purchase the tools by Dec. 31.
About 60% of households may cut back their electrical energy prices by 15% on common by putting in a solar-battery system. That is after accounting for annualized capital and working prices of the tools. Some 63% of U.S households may additionally climate native or regional blackouts with such methods, in a position to meet about half their electrical energy wants on common. These households would both lower your expenses on electrical energy or at the very least see no rise in prices. Nevertheless, the remaining households for which solar-battery methods aren’t economically viable are typically comparatively extra burdened by excessive utility payments and energy outages.
“With electrical energy charges now rising in most states, shaving utility payments may help individuals fairly a bit, however the capacity to experience out native or regional blackouts is changing into crucial to many households,” stated the examine’s senior writer, Ram Rajagopal, affiliate professor of civil and environmental engineering and {of electrical} engineering at Stanford. “That is as a result of U.S. electrical energy infrastructure is outdated and getting changed slowly, whereas the acute climate occasions like hurricanes and warmth waves that trigger blackouts have gotten extra frequent, intense, and longer lasting.”
The authors of the examine, printed August 1 in Nature Power, carried out a high-resolution nationwide evaluation of greater than 500,000 U.S. households’ entry to photo voltaic PV and battery storage. The reseaerchers additionally printed a coverage transient on the topic in the identical problem of Nature Power.
Federal tax credit
The One Large Stunning Invoice Act signed into legislation on July 4 discontinues – on the finish of this 12 months – the residential clear vitality tax credit from the Inflation Discount Act of 2022. Householders investing in residential renewable vitality, together with photo voltaic panels and batteries, can deduct 30% of the funding prices from their federal taxes. For a $30,000 photo voltaic array and $10,000 for residential battery packs, that’s for now a $12,000 rebate.
“The invoice does have an effect on our evaluation beginning subsequent 12 months since our calculations embody the 30% federal tax credit score,” stated the examine’s lead writer, Tao Solar, a postdoctoral scholar in Rajagopal’s lab. “Nevertheless, owners can nonetheless entry tax credit not directly after 2025 via leasing preparations or energy buy agreements. These oblique advantages will proceed till 2027 for photo voltaic and 2033 for batteries.”
The examine doesn’t embody the impression of the lack of the tax credit score, however Solar calculated that the loss alone – ignoring oblique methods to get a tax profit – would scale back the proportion of households for which solar-battery methods are economically viable from 60% to about 32%.
“By 2033, although, the falling value of battery packs would have the determine again at 60% and rising,” Solar added.
Declining utility funds
A second development can also be making battery packs extra viable financially. Many U.S. states are reducing how a lot owners who purchase photo voltaic panels will receives a commission for promoting extra electrical energy to their native utilities, largely through the afternoon. The upper funds had negated the financial advantages of shopping for a residential battery for many households, as a Stanford examine confirmed in 2019.
That has modified. Now, individuals with battery packs can save their electrical energy for their very own use when the solar isn’t shining, slightly than promoting energy to their utilities at wholesale costs solely to purchase electrical energy at night time at retail costs. Multiple-third of properties at this time are in states that pay residential photo voltaic homeowners based mostly on how a lot their electrical energy saves the native utility, which is sort of at all times lower than paying owners their full electrical energy charge. The variety of states adopting this coverage is rising.
Non-economic areas
Throughout the 48 continental states and Washington, D.C., the researchers quantified potential electrical energy value financial savings and economically viable blackout resilience. In addition they quantified the burden electrical payments positioned on family incomes and the way a lot properties in every state suffered from energy outages.
Houses in states the place outages are comparatively extra frequent would usually see decrease backup enhancements from solar-battery methods, they discovered. Additionally, many households burdened comparatively extremely by electrical energy payments would see solely reasonable financial savings on common from such methods. On the flipside, states the place individuals profit from comparatively massive value reductions additionally are inclined to get larger ranges of inexpensive backup energy. These state patterns have been true at county and even family ranges, the examine discovered.
“The solar-battery advantages usually fail to align with the areas that want them most, like in sure high-outage-risk states the place solely one-fourth of households can get inexpensive backup energy from solar-battery methods,” stated Arun Majumdar, dean of the Stanford Doerr College of Electrical energy and co-author of the examine. “As climate extremes like warmth waves intensify the frequency and severity of energy outages, guaranteeing inexpensive, safe, and sustainable backup energy is more and more crucial for at-risk properties.”
The transfer to decrease funds to properties promoting electrical energy into the grid reduces the financial viability of solar-battery methods in states but to make the transfer, like Iowa, Idaho, and Washington. Houses in deprived communities and less-populated areas persistently have decrease financial viability for solar-battery methods, whatever the charges at which utilities pay them for his or her extra electrical energy. Each outcomes end result from a mixture of native retail charges, solar-battery know-how prices, how a lot the solar shines, and outage dangers.
“Financial incentives, financing mechanisms, and community-based deployment packages that focus on areas with excessive monetary and reliability wants however low financial viability of solar-battery methods may assist households that want such methods probably the most,” stated Solar, who earned his PhD earlier this 12 months within the Division of Civil and Environmental Engineering, which is a joint division of Stanford’s College of Engineering and Doerr College of Sustainability.
The scenario and its financial outcomes are dynamic. With know-how prices declining, electrical energy charges rising, and U.S. federal tax incentives and charges paid to households promoting extra solar energy altering, additional analysis and evaluation shall be essential for informing policymakers, stated Rajagopal.
“For instance, future work may take a look at the viability of cell vitality storage that may transfer into neighborhoods when wanted to produce backup energy past the family degree,” he added. “Such improvements may make our vitality system extra inexpensive, sustainable, and resilient, particularly in neighborhoods at the moment with little entry to wash vitality.”
Analysis Report:Solar and battery can reduce energy costs and provide affordable outage backup for US households
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