SoLar with battery back up in colorado

I think people generally think of batteries when they think of solar. Fairly often I get asked about installing battery back up with a solar system. Almost always my clients opt for a back up generator rather than batteries. As with all things solar, the public generally doesn’t have a good feel for the cost of solar or batteries which is completely understandable as they are fairly new technologies.
Unless you live somewhere with mandatory time of use and/or demand charges that are fairly high, financially you are better off with a back up generator hooked to your propane tank or natural gas supply. On the other hand if you want backup power and are opposed to a generator for whatever reason, batteries might be a good option for you; as long as you’re willing to spend significantly more on your back up solution.

I don’t think this will always be the case. I think that batteries will continue to have a larger capacity and to be lower in price per unit of storage. There are also hurdles for this part of the world in terms of altitude and temperature that people are unaware of. Some battery manufacturers require their batteries to be installed at elevations below 2000 m for example. All of the new lithium ion batteries like to be at around room temperature so not outside in Colorado. Hopefully this will change in the future with new battery technologies that work at colder temperatures and higher elevations.