Whether it’s extreme weather events, looming blackouts, or utility-mandated power outages, adding a battery to your existing home solar system can help you store energy for use during tough times.1

1. The amount of power available from the battery during a power outage is limited, depending on the loads connected, customer usage and battery configuration (i.e., batteries in certain areas may be set up to provide you with the best economic benefit, which may affect the amount of back-up power available). Solar systems and/or batteries may require repairs after weather events and such repairs may be delayed due to forces outside of our control. No assurances can be given that the solar system or the battery will always work. You should never rely upon either of these to power life support or other medical devices. To see how long your battery will last during an outage, go to sunnova.com/batteryduration.

If you have a solar system without a battery, your system will turn off when the grid is down. A solar-only system cannot operate independently of the electric grid and will shut down when the grid isn’t working. This means you won’t have any power for your home during a grid outage.

If you have a solar system with a battery, you will be able to use the energy stored in your battery to power your essential appliances. Think about your solar + storage system as its own grid – during a blackout, you can power your home with your solar and battery as long as there is enough sun to charge your battery.

Once the grid comes back on, your solar system should automatically resume functioning as usual, unless there is an issue. However, it can take up to an hour to completely restart and connect to the cellular system.

If the stored energy in your battery has been depleted, it may be placed on standby mode and stop providing power and will wait for a power source (solar or the grid) to function.

While waiting for the grid to return, we suggest that you lower your power usage in your house. Turn off all major appliances this will allow the solar system to restart in the morning to begin to charge the battery. In rare cases, you may need to have your battery manually restarted. In this case, contact Sunnova for more information.

The best way to extend your battery during a grid outage is to reduce the use of energy-intensive appliances like air conditioners, car chargers, electric heaters and dishwashers. You may want to consider turning off as many unnecessary load circuit breakers in your house circuit panel as possible. This way you are not using energy for non-essential items. For example, you might want to keep the breakers on for your kitchen (or refrigerator).

Particularly during a grid power outage, monitoring the state of charge of your battery from your manufacturer’s app can better help you understand how your power usage affects your battery. Note, air conditioning systems are one of the largest circuit loads in a house. If the grid is down for a long period of time, you may want to use an alternative means to keep cool while your battery is charging (i.e., opening window or fan).

Once your power is restored in your area, don’t forget to turn all your circuit breakers to the ON position.

If we confirm that a natural disaster is heading towards your home, we will automatically place your battery in backup mode, or we will email you with instructions on how to set your battery to backup mode. When a battery is in backup mode, the battery will attempt to charge to full capacity, and the battery will not discharge energy to your home unless there is a power outage.

After the natural disaster passes, we will set your battery back to normal operating mode.

Please note that if your battery is connected through a subpanel, only the loads connected to the subpanel will be backup.

We suggest you turn off non-essential, large appliances first, such as your washer and dryer or pool pump, as these appliances draw the most electricity. This will help the energy in your battery last longer to power your more essential items.

The amount of power available from the battery during a power outage is limited, depend on the loads connected, customer usage and battery configuration (i.e. Batteries in certain areas may be set up to provide you with the best economic benefit, which may affect the amount of back-up available). Solar systems and/or batteries may require repairs after weather events and such repairs may be delayed due to forces outside of our control.

Unfortunately, we do not know when utility electricity service will be restored. We recommend you contact your utility directly for any updates.

Yes. Your solar energy system requires the cellular network to transmit the meter data to Sunnova. However, this is not necessary to produce energy. Although Sunnova will not be able to monitor the production of its solar energy system, be assured that your home will continue to produce solar energy. Once the cellular service is restored, we will begin to monitor your production as of that moment.

If your power went out, wait approximately one hour for the system to restart.

To verify if your system is producing energy, identify the type of meter your solar system has and follow the steps below:

Locus meter

• Verification that the system is producing:
• The readings of energy (kWh), power (kW) and current (A) will appear in cycle on the LCD screen.
• An arrow-shaped icon will appear on the lower right side of the LCD screen.
• Verification that the system is communicating:
• Solid phone icon on the bottom left of the LCD screen.
• If a solid phone icon does not appear, but you see the cycle of kWh, kW and A readings on the screens, it means that the system is producing power but is not communicating with Sunnova.

Itron meter

• Verification that the system is producing:
• The readings of energy (kWh), power (kW) and current (A) will appear in cycle on the LCD screen.
• An arrow-shaped icon will appear on the lower right side of the LCD screen.
• Verification that the system is communicating:
• You will see the code 106 on top at the same time it shows a 551 on the left side of the LCD screen.
• If a code 106 does not appear on the screen, it means that the system is producing power but is not communicating with Sunnova.

Envoy S Meter

• Verification that the system is producing:
• The energy production LED (light icon) is on the cover of the Envoy S and is solid green.
• The LED of the communication device (icon in the form of opposite arrows) is on the cover of the Envoy S and is solid green.
• Verification that the system is communicating:
• The communication network LED (icon in the form of a cloud) is on the cover of the Envoy S and is solid green.
• If the LED of the communication network is not solid green it means that the system is working but is not communicating.

Solaredge Meter

• Verification that the system is producing:
• The Solaredge Meter is built into the Solaredge inverter.
• Check the Solaredge inverter for a green light near the Power indicator
• The Solaredge display screen should also light up and say “On”. It will likely also say Vac [V], Vdc[V[, and Pac[W].

You can reset the meter, disconnecting the system for 5 minutes and then reconnecting it. To disconnect the system, put the AC disconnect handle in the off position. Leave it in the off position for 5 minutes and then put it back in the on position. Wait one hour for the system to restart. If it does not restart, call us at 866.SUNNOVA (866.786.6682) or write to customerservice@sunnova.com and we will initiate a service request.