batteries

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In December, the California Public Utilities Commission voted to radically change the net energy metering rules that dictate how state residents are compensated for their rooftop solar power generation. There was a lot to unpack at the time in the rule changes, but the major thrust of the redesign placed a much larger focus on installing energy storage in the form of batteries. The added batteries, the commissioners argued, would give the strained California electrical grid flexibility later into the evening to help combat the dreaded “duck curve” that forms in the evening when renewable energy is in short supply, but demand is at its highest. For California property owners, the rule change meant that if they ever wanted to generate meaningful savings they’d have to install batteries along with solar panels.

Enter Haven Energy. The company launched operations in Southern California this week in order to help property owners source, finance, install, and manage batteries.

The idea, according to founder Vinnie Campo, is that you can come to site, enter a few details about your property and what you want to use your battery for, and Haven will recommend the size of the battery system and set users up with a specialist who can help them refine and tweak said system. Once the design is finalized, Haven handles the permitting and connects users to certified installers. “For a homeowner, there's all these different steps that they have to go through, which is what we're trying to solve for,” says Campo. “It’s almost like a one-click checkout, where you can go through a very simple process, we handle all the work in the back end.”

With the California Public Utilities Commission’s new net energy metering rules going into effect on Friday, Haven’s launch appears well timed to help meet the increased demand for battery installs. “It seems like what that ruling is doing is encouraging homeowners to add more energy storage which we view as a good thing and it certainly should help stabilize the grid,” says Campo. Since the 12- person company officially launched earlier this week, Campo says they’ve already begun to build up a “big backlog of customers.” But he declined to share specific numbers.

“We see in the next 10 years, somewhere close to half of the homes in America will probably have a battery installed,” Campo added. “But there's a lot of work to do to increase that adoption of energy storage. We're just excited to be able to help homeowners simplify the process and lower the cost, so we can build a resilient energy infrastructure.”