The Galloways

For the Galloways, Battery-Powered Solar with Grid-Tied Backup Makes Sense

As utilities across the United States consider expanding their power supply with new coal-fired power plants, Mike Galloway recently made a key decision regarding his own family’s energy supply. The Crawford, Colorado, resident installed a 1.8kW solar system from Real Goods.

“Our primary motivation for switching to solar energy was to be part of the solution regarding CO2 generation, rather than part of the problem,” Galloway says.

So he took an unconventional approach with a system that reduces his reliance on conventional sources of power — by generating 100 percent of his family’s energy needs with a battery-based PV system and tying into the electrical grid only as a backup. More commonly, the batteries provide the back-up power or are excluded altogether. The battery hook-up ensures that their system is completely self-reliant and that they will have power if the grid goes down. And the grid-tie backup gives them access to extra power if they ever need it, such as when they operate the electric kiln in their pottery studio.

“We didn’t realize this approach was considered unusual,” Galloway says. “The primary challenge was finding someone who understood how we wanted to set up the system.”

Galloway is happy he found the answers he needed from Real Goods, and even happier to support the renewable energy industry as it develops. “Existing, and constantly improving technology supplies all our needs, and we don’t rely on energy sources that contribute to the current world situation — both politically and with respect to the climate,” he says.