We Install Battery Backup & Home Batteries.
Whole-home solar batteries keep your home powered, even when the grid goes down.
Whole-home solar batteries keep your home powered, even when the grid goes down.
We offer turn-key battery backup solutions, from FranklinWH and Enphase Energy. Our backup solutions automatically transfer power when the grid goes out, in a matter of milliseconds. Most of the time, you'll only know the grid is out because of the notification on your phone.
Modern battery backup systems are reliable, easy to maintain, and warrantied for 10-15 years, making it easy to secure your energy, and your peace of mind. When the sun comes out, it recharges your battery automatically.
A solar battery backup system is the best way to keep your critical loads running. Whether it’s a summer storm, hurricane, or unexpected grid failure, a solar battery provides seamless backup power to your home without the noise and hassle of a generator.
Unlike gas generators, solar batteries recharge automatically from your solar panels, so you don't have to run out for fuel during an emergency.
Modern home batteries like the FranklinWH aPower2 are designed for reliability, efficiency, and long-term performance.
They can even power heavy loads like air conditioners and water heaters, keeping your home running smoothly even when the grid is down.
Get a free battery quote todayOne of the biggest advantages of modern solar batteries is their flexibility. If you already have solar panels installed, you can retrofit a battery backup system —and as of 2025, batteries are fully eligible for the 30% federal tax credit.
Batteries like the FranklinWH aPower 2 also integrate seamlessly with generator support, allowing you to create a hybrid energy solution that provides complete peace of mind-- meaning your generator can power your home and charge your battery at the same time.
Thanks to advancements in home battery technology, homeowners can now back up their entire 200A electrical panel with just one or two batteries, depending on their loads. Modern solar batteries like offer higher power output and greater capacity, allowing them to run most homes seamlessly.
For complete control over your circuits, a SPAN Smart Panel let's you decide which appliances stay powered during an outage—maximizing efficiency and ensuring your stored energy lasts as long as possible. Plus it integrates natively with batteries from FranklinWH and Enphase.
While we can provide power to your entire existing 200A main panel during an outage, it's important to minimize your usage during a grid-outage, or the batteries may be drained quicker than expected. Some loads may not be able to run at all, like heat-pumps or electric-car chargers.
While it is usually not an issue to start larger loads, running heat pumps & ACs may drain batteries more than desired. We usually recommend removing any heavy loads from the backed-up panel.
Techinically yes-- But 90% of the time it makes more sense to backup one panel, and shift non-essential loads into the other 200A panel.
Battery backup equipment is made for 200A panels, so if you want to backup both of your panels, you would need to have two completely separate systems (i.e. double the electrical work, batteries, and solar). So in most cases, the cost to do this outweighs the benefits.
Generators are sometimes a cheaper alternative to battery-backup that can provide a lot of power for a relatively short period of time. Solar batteries are great at providing a smaller amount of energy over an extended period of time.
If you are interested in protecting your energy for extended outages, solar paired with a home battery is often the best way to achieve peace-of-mind. And if you want complete energy security, you can easily add a generator into the mix with the FranklinWH battery system.
For more information, read our post on standby generators vs. home batteries!
Actual lifespan will depend on proper system design and usage but FranklinWH & Enphase batteries are both warrantied for 15 years, and use LFP chemistry.
Yes! The FranklinWH battery is designed for customers with existing solar systems. lt can work with any inverter, so if your home has an SMA, SolarEdge, Fronius, or some other inverter, you can still get a modern battery-backup system!
Unfortunately, we do not offer off-grid products or designs. All of our battery-backup systems are designed to work in conjunction with the grid, and provide temporary power during the days that the grid is down.
We wish this were true. We wrote a whole article on "should you buy a home battery or wait for bidirectional charging"-- The upshot is that EV companies need to standardize their cars so they will work with mainstream battery backup equipment. At the moment, they all use proprietary parts, and require you to use proprietary solar components as well (i.e. you can't use Enphase Microinverters, you'd have to use their ecosystem's inverter, etc.).
They're all good, but we are most excited about FranklinWH's new aPower 2. It just does everything we want it to, and actually adds generator support that works! If you already have an Enphase system, the IQ batteries are a great option, and keeps everything under one company & one monitoring ecosystem.
If your solar system is grid-tied without a battery, it will shut off during a power outage for safety reasons (even if the sun is shining). However, homes with battery storage can stay powered by using stored solar energy. Whether it’s a short outage or an extended blackout, solar + battery backup ensures you always have electricity when you need it.
For more info, read our article "What Happens to Solar Homes When the Power Goes Out?"
Virtue Solar is proud to be the local solar installer for Central Virginia. We serve Charlottesville, Culpeper, Greene County, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Louisa, Lynchburg, Madison County, Orange, Short Pump, Richmond, Roanoke, Staunton, Warrenton, Waynesboro, and most other areas in central Virginia. Interested in going solar? We’ll be happy to provide you with information, a quote and site visit, all free of charge.