South Dakota may not need to wait for the next major blackout to start making homes better able to handle outages. A program in Michigan indicates that combining rooftop solar panels with batteries can trim household electricity costs, provide power during disruptions, and ease pressure on the grid.
Seen through that lens, home energy improvements are not just optional purchases for individual households. They can also act as community infrastructure with benefits that extend beyond a single address.
Here's what to know
Pointing to Ann Arbor, Mich., Cory Allen Heidelberger, the author behind Dakota Free Press, argued that South Dakota could make better use of resilience funding by helping residents add solar panels and home batteries.
In Ann Arbor, Heidelberger noted, a voter-created Sustainable Energy Utility is using grants and city budget money to expand local energy generation. Households that join the program can get solar panels and batteries installed without the usual upfront installation cost, and the utility operates alongside the area's primary power company rather than replacing it.
For those looking at installing similar upgrades on their own, going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy. Homeowners can explore EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes.
Heidelberger cited a Marketplace report that households in the program pay about $600 a year for the service, and their annual electric bill savings can reach roughly $700 to $1,000. When an installation requires extra work, the utility may also pay for related upgrades such as insulation or even a new roof.
More background
Electricity generated where people live could help address several pressures hitting utilities, including higher demand, rising costs, and more disruptive weather. Because distributed energy is produced close to where it is used, it can reduce stress on the system while still offering backup power when centralized service fails.
The real-world consequences of outages can be expensive. Ann Arbor resident Bruce Schauer told Marketplace, "About a year ago, we had a blackout here, and I lost a freezer full of meat and a refrigerator full of meat."
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During storms or heat waves, that can quickly become a costly and even dangerous problem. Solar panels can produce low-cost electricity, while batteries can store that power for later use, helping families keep essentials running and reducing the risk of spoiled food, unsafe indoor temperatures, or sudden spikes in utility bills.
The model in Ann Arbor is meant to help more than the homes where equipment is installed. When power use climbs, the utility can draw on those distributed battery systems to help prevent wider outages, supporting neighborhood stability while keeping more energy dollars within the community.
What can be done?
For states such as South Dakota, that points to a more local way to spend resilience money. Instead of concentrating only on large centralized projects, public officials, cities, and utilities could back neighborhood-scale solar and battery systems that offer residents both direct savings and backup power.
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. It can also make solar power much more useful after sunset or during grid emergencies. Homeowners can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
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EnergySage's free services can also make the shopping process much easier. With EnergySage's help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. And EnergySage's solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system on a state-by-state level, along with details on solar panel incentives for each state, helping readers get the best price for rooftop solar panels and access available incentives.
Ann Arbor's experiment is drawing interest beyond Michigan. As Shoshannah Lenski, the utility's executive director, told Marketplace, "Having the power actually produced in our community is really valuable for resiliency."
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