Affiliate disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, SolarHomeCompare may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
When Hurricane Ike made landfall in Texas in September 2008, most of Ohio assumed it was someone else’s problem. Two days later, the storm’s remnants reached the state as a dry windstorm — no rain, just sustained gusts — and blacked out more than two million Ohioans, some for over a week. It remains one of the largest outages in state history, and it caught homeowners completely off guard because there was no storm in the traditional sense to warn them. Ohio sits in the PJM grid, served by AEP Ohio, FirstEnergy, Duke Energy Ohio, and AES Ohio, but the 2008 windstorm made the point plainly: a widespread outage here can arrive from a direction nobody expects and last for days. If you’re comparing Ohio solar quotes, it’s worth knowing that a grid-tied rooftop system shuts off in that outage too, unless you also have battery storage.
Wind isn’t the only threat
The 2008 windstorm was the standout, but Ohio’s outages come in every form. The June 2012 derecho blasted across the state on its way east, and winter ice storms regularly weigh down lines from Columbus to Cincinnati to Cleveland. Between summer wind, derechos, and winter ice, the state keeps its utility crews busy year-round — and when a major event hits, restoring every neighborhood takes days regardless of which company serves your street. Keeping your own essentials on comes down to having the right backup ready before the next one.
Your essentials draw less than you think
Most homes overestimate what they need. A refrigerator runs around 150W, ten LED bulbs about 50W together, a router near 10W, and phone charging about 20W. Add a fan or a couple of chargers and you’re near 300W of steady draw — enough to keep food cold, phones charged, and a room lit through the worst of an outage.
The Solar Generator HomePower 3000 is sized for exactly that at roughly 3,072Wh and 3,600W. It runs essentials for one to two days, and its bundle includes solar panels so it recharges during daylight while the grid is still down.
▶ See the HomePower 3000 solar generator use code DEAL5
For a larger Ohio home, or to carry heavier loads through a longer outage, the Solar Generator 5000 Plus steps up to 5,040Wh and 7,200W with 120V and 240V, expandable to 60kWh — enough to run central air conditioning.
▶ View the Solar Generator 5000 Plus
The reason a battery wins over a gas generator here is simple: a Jackery LiFePO4 station runs near 30 decibels, produces zero exhaust, and is safe to use indoors, while a gas unit needs fuel you may not reach and can never come inside. The best time to sort out backup is before the next windstorm or ice event, not during the scramble afterward when stores are cleared out. Charge it, learn which outlets carry which loads, and it’s ready the moment the lights flicker. It’s worth checking the current deals before you buy.
Keep reading: Ohio solar incentives & costs · Keep power on in a West Virginia outage · Keep power on in a Pennsylvania outage