Palo Alto – Tesla made one of the biggest advancement in renewable energy last week on unveiling home batteries that are expected to provide homes and businesses sufficient backup power. It is a big step in renewable energy as homeowners can now store solar energy during the day when there is sufficient sunlight and use the power during peak times on the grid or when there is a blackout.

Dubbed Powerwall, the battery packs, are much smaller and can be mounted on the wall, coming with a thermal control system that allows consumers to choose when they want to use the stored power.

Consumers can now be able to use solar power during peak times when power from the grid is mostly costly. Powerwall batteries come in two storage variants of 10kWh that goes for $3,500 while a 7kWh variant goes for $3,000. However, the costs don’t involve inverter costs or installation costs.

The batteries are expected to become a popular choice for households that have already installed solar panels and would wish to reduce their reliance on the grid especially during blackouts. Selling solar-power back to the grid remains out of the picture for many home owners as it is turning out to be an expensive venture as most of them complain of the grid maintenance fee that is being charged.

Some power companies have been known to charge solar customers grid maintenance fee when they use solar energy.

Loss of revenue could be in the offing for power companies especially from homes that don’t use too much power and could somehow sustain their operations with batteries. Businesses, on the other hand, will have to rely on power from the grid as most of them are usually large and cannot sustain their operations for long on batteries. However, the Powerwall batteries are expected to provide decent backup power in moments of lost power.