A solar battery microgrid may sound like technology from the distant future. In reality, Washington, D.C. is preparing to build one now, and Uprise Solar and Roofing has won the competitive bid to help make it happen.
The project will bring solar panels, battery storage, and smart energy controls to approximately 50 to 200 homes, businesses, or a combination of both in the same area. Together, these properties will form a small local electric grid that can support the larger power system and potentially continue operating when the surrounding grid goes down.
The location has not been selected yet. Uprise is now working through the technical and community requirements to identify a suitable area and the homes, businesses, and community partners that could participate.
This project comes at a moment when the weaknesses of our existing electric grid are becoming much harder to ignore.
Last Night’s Storm Showed How Quickly the Power Can Go Out
On September 3, 2026, a powerful storm moved through Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia. Winds reached up to 70 mph in the District, bringing down trees and power lines and damaging homes and vehicles. By 4:30 Friday morning, nearly 16,000 Pepco customers were without power.
For people across the region, the storm was a fresh reminder that electricity can disappear with very little warning. Once trees and utility lines come down, customers depend on repair crews reaching every damaged location before their power can be restored.
The D.C. area has seen much worse.
On June 29, 2012, a derecho tore through Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., and much of the Mid-Atlantic. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the storm produced wind gusts of 80 to 100 mph and left approximately 4.2 million customers without power across 11 states and the District. At the peak, about 25 percent of D.C. electric customers were without service. In many areas, restoration took seven to 10 days.
The derecho happened during extreme summer heat, making the outages especially dangerous. Refrigerators stopped running. Air conditioners went silent. Communications systems failed. Older adults and people with medical needs faced the greatest risks.
Severe weather is not the only threat to reliable electricity, but it is the one most people in our region have experienced firsthand.
Could America’s Power Grid Really Collapse?
A recent New York Times investigation, “What if America Went Completely Dark?”, examines a more serious possibility: a widespread failure of the American power grid that could not be repaired quickly.
The article explains how much of the country depends on large substations and highly specialized transformers. These transformers are essential for moving electricity across the country and delivering it at usable voltages. Many are aging, difficult to manufacture, and almost impossible to replace quickly.
According to the article, the average wait for a large power transformer has grown to 128 weeks, with some taking as long as five years. An earlier federal analysis found that losing a small number of critical substations could potentially cause cascading failures across large portions of the country.
Experts disagree about how likely a nationwide collapse would be. The grid includes redundancies, and utilities have strengthened some protections. Still, the broader warning is difficult to dismiss: our electricity system relies heavily on a limited number of critical components, and replacing them after a large disaster could take months or years.
At the same time, electricity demand is rising. Homes are adding electric vehicles and heat pumps. Data centers are consuming enormous amounts of energy. Extreme heat is pushing demand higher at the exact moments when reliable electricity matters most.
We need to continue improving substations, transformers, transmission lines, and utility infrastructure. But we should not assume that every grid problem can be solved by building more of the same centralized system.
Why Batteries Are the Next Logical Step for the Power Grid
Solar changed the electric system by allowing homes and businesses to produce power where it is actually used. Batteries are the next logical step because they allow that electricity to be saved and used when it is most valuable.
Without battery storage, most grid-connected solar systems shut down during an outage. This protects utility workers from electricity flowing back onto damaged power lines. With a properly designed battery and system controller, a home can safely disconnect from the grid and use stored electricity to power selected circuits or, in some cases, most of the building.
Solar battery storage can help:
- Keep refrigerators, lights, internet equipment, medical devices, and other essential loads operating during an outage.
- Store solar electricity during the day so it can be used at night.
- Supply electricity during periods of peak demand.
- Reduce pressure on transformers and other utility infrastructure.
- Help balance electricity supply and demand across the grid.
- Give homes and businesses more control over how and when they use energy.
One battery protects one property. Hundreds or thousands of batteries, managed together, can become part of the power grid itself.
That is the larger opportunity identified in the New York Times article. Instead of depending only on a few enormous pieces of infrastructure, we can distribute power generation and storage across many smaller locations. If one part of the system fails, more electricity is still available close to the people who need it.
What Is a Solar Battery Microgrid?
A solar battery microgrid connects local sources of electricity, energy storage, buildings, and smart controls within a defined area. It can manage how electricity is produced, stored, and shared inside that area.
Under normal conditions, a neighborhood microgrid remains connected to the larger utility grid. The participating homes and businesses can receive utility power, produce solar electricity, charge their batteries, and send excess power back through net metering, subject to the project’s final rules and design.
If the larger grid experiences an outage, the microgrid may be able to disconnect temporarily. This is called “islanding.” While islanded, the solar panels, batteries, and controls work together as a local electric system.
This does not necessarily mean every appliance in every building can run indefinitely. The available power will depend on solar production, battery capacity, weather, and community energy use. Smart controls may prioritize essential services and reduce less important loads so stored energy lasts longer.
The goal is not to permanently disconnect a neighborhood from Pepco. The goal is to create a stronger local energy system that can work with the larger grid during normal conditions and provide greater resilience when that grid is under stress.
Uprise Won the Bid to Help Build a D.C. Microgrid
Uprise Solar and Roofing has won the competitive bid to help develop a neighborhood-scale microgrid in Washington, D.C. The project is expected to include approximately 50 to 200 homes, businesses, or both, equipped with solar panels and battery storage.
We are currently working to determine where the project can be built. Because a microgrid serves a defined local area, the participating properties need to be located close to one another. The neighborhood must also meet the project’s electrical, technical, and community requirements.
That means finding the right location will require more than identifying individual homes with sunny roofs. It will require cooperation among neighbors, property owners, local businesses, community organizations, District agencies, Pepco, and the project team.
Once completed, the project could give participating properties lower-cost solar electricity, battery backup, and the ability to support a local grid that is more resilient during severe weather and other disruptions. It can also give the District a working model that could be studied and repeated in other neighborhoods.
A Stronger Grid Can Start at the Neighborhood Level
The possibility of a large grid failure can feel too big for any city, company, or household to address. But the solution does not have to be one enormous national project.
A more resilient grid can be built through many practical local improvements: stronger utility infrastructure, more domestic transformer production, rooftop and community solar, battery storage, smart energy controls, and microgrids that protect the places where people live and work.
Last night’s storm showed how easily thousands of local customers can lose power. The 2012 derecho showed how a single weather system can leave millions without electricity. The New York Times investigation asks us to consider what could happen if damage extended beyond power lines to the hardest parts of the grid to replace.
We should not wait for a catastrophic failure to begin building a system that is better prepared for one.
Solar allows us to produce electricity close to where it is needed. Batteries allow us to save and control that power. A solar battery microgrid allows an entire community to use those resources together.
That is the next logical step for the power grid, and Washington, D.C. now has an opportunity to help lead the way.
Could Your Community Be a Fit for the D.C. Microgrid?
Uprise Solar and Roofing wants to hear from D.C. homeowners, business owners, multifamily property owners, houses of worship, neighborhood organizations, and community leaders who may be interested in the project.
The best potential locations will include a concentrated group of interested properties within the same area. If you believe your block, neighborhood, business district, or community could be a good fit, contact Uprise to start the conversation.
Tell us where you are located, what type of property you represent, and whether nearby residents or organizations may also be interested.
