On the evening of June 29, 2012, a derecho, a wall of straight-line winds moving like a freight train, crossed Virginia in barely an hour and knocked out power for well over a million Dominion Energy customers, some of them for close to a week, in a heat wave that pushed past 100°F. It wasn’t the first time a single storm had done that kind of damage. Nine years earlier, Hurricane Isabel made landfall on September 18, 2003, and cut power to more than 1.4 million Dominion Virginia Power customers statewide, including over 365,000 in the Richmond area alone: a storm so destructive that Dominion later said parts of its distribution system had to be rebuilt, not restored. Virginia sits inside PJM Interconnection, the regional grid that coordinates power from the Midwest to the coast. But PJM moves electricity along high-voltage transmission lines; when a storm snaps the local poles feeding your street, the regional grid can’t help you at all. That is exactly the gap a home battery fills. If you’re comparing Virginia solar quotes, it’s the part most installers skip: a grid-tied rooftop array goes dark in that outage too.
Two storms, a decade apart, the same lesson
Isabel and the 2012 derecho arrived by completely different routes, a hurricane crawling up the coast versus a line of thunderstorms racing across the state in an hour, and still produced outages of the same scale. Isabel downed roughly 10,000 utility poles and nearly 8,000 transformers across Virginia; Dominion was still working to get the last several hundred thousand customers back on by the following weekend. The derecho moved faster and hit harder in the moment, but left crews facing the same math: thousands of separate local breaks, restored circuit by circuit, not with one big fix. Whether the next event is a tropical system or a summer line of storms, the restoration timeline looks the same: days, not hours, for anyone whose street isn’t first in line.
Why your panels shut off the moment Dominion does
It surprises people, but a standard rooftop system stops producing the instant the grid fails. Anti-islanding rules force it to, so utility crews aren’t working on lines your array is quietly back-feeding. Whether you’re served by Dominion Energy Virginia across Richmond, Arlington, and Virginia Beach or by Appalachian Power down around Roanoke, the effect is identical: the sun can be blazing the morning after a storm and your panels sit idle while the refrigerator warms up. A battery is the only thing that lets you actually use your own solar during an outage.
Your essentials draw less than you think
You don’t have to run the whole house: just the handful of things that matter when it’s 98°F and the grid is gone. A fridge pulls about 150W, ten LED bulbs roughly 50W together, a router near 10W, and phone charging about 20W. Add a fan and you’re near 300W of steady draw.
Current price of the HomePower 3000 at Jackery (panels included)
How long each Jackery runs a Virginia home’s essentials
Size against energy per day, not the wattage on the label.
| Load | Typical draw | Energy per day |
|---|---|---|
| Fridge/freezer | ~150W running (cycling) | ~1,200Wh |
| Box fans (summer heat) | ~60 to 100W each | ~500 to 800Wh per fan |
| Wi-Fi router | ~10W | ~240Wh |
| LED lights (ten bulbs) | ~50W | ~300Wh (6 hrs) |
| Phone and laptop charging | ~20 to 60W | ~150 to 250Wh |
| Window AC (heat-wave derecho) | ~900 to 1,200W running | ~4,000 to 6,000Wh |
| Sump pump (coastal flooding) | ~800 to 1,300W while running | ~500 to 1,000Wh |
| Space heater (winter ice) | 1,500W | Not recommended |
Fridge, a fan, Wi-Fi, lights, and phones come to roughly 2,000 to 2,300Wh a day in summer heat like the 2012 derecho brought. Add a window AC and the day climbs past 6,000Wh.
HomePower 3000. At 3,072Wh it covers fridge, a fan, Wi-Fi, lights, and phones for one to two days per charge, plus whatever a clear day puts back through the included panels. It is 120V only and not expandable.
HomePower 3600 Plus. 3,584Wh and 3,600W, expandable to 21kWh, which turns a multi-day hurricane-remnant or derecho outage like Isabel’s or 2012’s into something manageable even with a window AC running.
Solar Generator 5000 Plus. 5,040Wh, 7,200W, 120V and 240V, expandable to 60kWh: the only one of the three that runs central AC or a 240V well pump, which matters most in Virginia’s summer heat.
| Unit | Capacity / output | Best for in Virginia | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| HomePower 3000 | 3,072Wh · 3,600W · panels included | Essentials for 1 to 2 days of a derecho or hurricane remnant | Check the price |
| HomePower 3600 Plus | 3,584Wh · 3,600W · to 21kWh | A multi-day outage like Isabel's, window AC on through the heat | Check the price |
| Solar Generator 5000 Plus | 5,040Wh · 7,200W · 120V/240V · to 60kWh | Central AC or a well pump through a week-long restoration | Check the price |
Solar Generator 5000 Plus at Jackery: 7,200W, 120V/240V
Solar generator vs gas generator for a Virginia outage
- Indoor safety and carbon monoxide. A battery station vents nothing and runs in a utility room with the house sealed. A gas generator sits outside, well away from windows.
- Noise. About 30 decibels versus 60 to 90: worth caring about when it’s 98°F and every window on the street is open.
- Warning time. A tracked hurricane like Isabel gives days of notice: charge the battery then. A derecho gives almost none, so a battery already topped off is the only option that’s ready either way.
- Cold starting. Push a button, rather than fighting a pull cord in the dark after trees have already come down.
- Maintenance. Oil, carburetor, and monthly test runs for gas. A monthly top-up for the battery.
- What gas still does better. A very long outage with no sun, and whole-house 240V at a lower upfront cost.
Sort it out before the next storm
Isabel gave days of warning; the 2012 derecho gave almost none. Virginia’s hurricane season and summer storm line both favor a battery that is already charged when the storm arrives. Whichever option you choose, set it up at the start of the season so it is staged when the next system rolls through.
Jackery's full home backup lineup and current prices
Keep reading: Virginia solar incentives & costs · How to keep the lights on in a Maryland outage · How to keep the lights on in a West Virginia outage · Solar generator vs gas generator