Hurricane season in the Lowcountry: sizing a battery that keeps you running.

In the Lowcountry, backup power isn't a luxury feature — it's the whole point for a lot of homeowners. Between hurricane season, summer thunderstorms, and an aging grid, the question isn't usually "should I add a battery," it's "how big does it need to be." Here's how to think about it without overspending.

First: a battery is what keeps you running, not the panels

Worth repeating because it surprises people — grid-tied solar panels shut off during an outage by code, to protect line workers. So if storm resilience is your goal, the battery (plus a backup gateway) is the part doing the work. The panels then recharge that battery during daylight, which is what lets you ride out a multi-day outage instead of just a few hours.

How to size it: start with what you actually need to power

The biggest sizing mistake is pricing a battery to run your entire house, including the central AC, when what you really need is to keep essentials alive. Walk through three tiers:

• Critical loads (smallest, cheapest): fridge, freezer, internet/router, phone charging, a few lights, medical devices, well pump. For many homes this is roughly 2–5 kWh a day if you're careful — one battery often covers a day or more.
• Comfort loads (most popular): add some outlets, fans, a mini-split or one AC zone, kitchen circuits. This is where most Lowcountry homeowners land, and it usually means one to two batteries.
• Whole-home (largest): run essentially everything, including central air. Realistic, but it takes multiple batteries and a bigger budget — worth it for some, overkill for many.

The equipment we trust

We install Tesla Powerwall 3 and FranklinWH systems — both stackable, so you can start with what your budget allows and add capacity later. Stackability matters in the Lowcountry: it lets you begin with critical-loads backup and grow toward whole-home over time.

One incentive note for 2026

A homeowner-purchased battery no longer earns the federal residential credit, the same way panels don't. But there's still good news in South Carolina: the state's 100% property-tax exemption on qualifying solar systems also covers paired battery storage, so adding resilience doesn't raise your property-tax assessment. And if you finance through a lease/PPA, the system owner may still capture federal storage incentives and pass value through. We'll lay out which path fits your situation.

Bottom line

Size the battery to the outage you're actually worried about — comfortable essentials for several days — and pair it with enough solar to recharge. That's almost always a better value than chasing whole-home backup you'll rarely use. We'll model your real critical loads and show you the options before you spend a dollar.