If you rent in Chicago, a rooftop solar quote doesn’t apply: you don’t own the roof, and when a storm takes down the line, ComEd goes dark the same way for everyone on the block. Twice in the last fifteen years that’s meant outages measured in the hundreds of thousands: on July 11, 2011, a fast-moving derecho left more than 852,000 ComEd customers without power, one of the largest outages in the utility’s history, just short of the 865,000-customer record set in 1998, with restoration costs topping $80 million. On August 10, 2020, a second derecho tore across northern Illinois and knocked out power to more than a million ComEd customers. In an apartment there’s nowhere to run a gas generator safely, so a portable solar generator is where to start.
Two derechos, nine years apart
The 2011 and 2020 storms weren’t freak one-offs: they were the same kind of weather event, a fast-moving line of straight-line winds, hitting the same grid twice within a decade and each time leaving more than half the region’s utility customers in the dark. Between the two headline events, the city’s summer heat is its own hazard: the 1995 heat wave that killed hundreds of Chicagoans was a stark lesson in what a summer power failure can do, especially for renters on upper floors with no air conditioning and no way down if the elevator’s out too. You can still read up on Illinois solar incentives and costs for the ownership picture, but if you rent, a portable station such as the HomePower 3000, covered below, is the practical answer.
Why portable fits a Chicago rental
Portable solar is a battery power station, not a rooftop system: you charge it from the wall or from foldable panels, run it indoors, and take it with you when the lease is up. Nothing is bolted to the building and there’s no landlord to ask, which matters in a city where renters move often and two-flats and high-rises alike rule out roof access. It turns a derecho or a summer outage from something you just endure into something your fridge and phone can ride out.
How ComEd restoration order affects a renter
ComEd, like most utilities, restores the biggest circuits first: substations, then main feeders, then the smaller lines branching off them, and finally the individual service drops that reach a single building. After both the 2011 and 2020 derechos, that meant hospitals and large commercial areas came back within hours while some residential blocks waited days for a truck to reach their specific line. A renter on a quiet side street has no way to move up that queue, but a charged battery in the apartment doesn’t need to. It keeps the fridge and Wi-Fi running on the same timeline whether the crew arrives in six hours or three days.
What it can and can’t do
A portable station covers the essentials well: a fridge draws about 150W, ten LED bulbs roughly 50W together, a router near 10W, and phone charging about 20W, the heart of an apartment kept running quietly, indoors, with zero exhaust. What it won’t do is run central AC or electric heat, and a small balcony limits panel area, so recharging is slower than a rooftop array.
| Load | Typical draw | Energy per day |
|---|---|---|
| Fridge/freezer | ~150W running (cycling) | ~1,200Wh |
| Wi-Fi router | ~10W | ~240Wh |
| LED lights (ten bulbs) | ~50W | ~300Wh (6 hrs) |
| Phone and laptop charging | ~20 to 60W | ~150 to 250Wh |
| Box fan (heat-wave outage) | ~60 to 100W | ~500Wh |
Fridge, Wi-Fi, lights, and phones come to roughly 1,900Wh a day: comfortably inside what a mid-size battery carries for a day or two between charges. In a Chicago heat wave that means keeping food, fans, and a charged phone going rather than cooling the whole unit: still the difference that matters most when a derecho like 2011’s or 2020’s takes days to fully restore.
Where to start
For most Chicago renters, the HomePower 3000 is a practical middle size: about 3,072Wh and 3,600W, enough to keep the fridge, Wi-Fi, and lights on for one to two days. Its bundle includes foldable solar panels you can set out on a balcony or in a sunny window to recharge mid-outage: no rooftop, no wiring, no landlord conversation.
Current price of the HomePower 3000 at Jackery (panels included)
| Unit | Capacity / output | Best for Chicago renters | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| HomePower 3000 | 3,072Wh · 3,600W · panels included | Essentials for 1 to 2 days, moves with you at lease-end | Check the price |
| HomePower 3600 Plus | 3,584Wh · 3,600W · to 21kWh | A larger apartment or a multi-day derecho-scale outage | Check the price |
| Solar Generator 5000 Plus | 5,040Wh · 7,200W · 120V/240V · to 60kWh | A house-share or larger unit wanting a window AC covered too | Check the price |
If that size doesn’t fit your place (a studio that needs less, or a larger apartment that needs more) compare Jackery’s other portable power station sizes and match one to the loads you actually need to keep on.
Jackery power station lineup and current prices
Set-up checklist before the next derecho or heat wave
- Charge it as soon as a severe thunderstorm watch or heat advisory is issued. Both the 2011 and 2020 derechos moved fast, but forecasters tracked the storm systems hours ahead.
- Keep it away from windows during high wind, and off a balcony that could catch flying debris.
- Map which outlets matter. Fridge, router, one lamp, phone chargers, a fan.
- Set the panels out on the balcony or a sunny sill as soon as daylight returns.
- Test it once in a quiet week so you know what it runs before you need it.
- Keep a battery-powered CO alarm regardless: a neighbor’s gas generator can still put CO in your unit.
Because it’s fully portable, it also has uses beyond outages: camping, tailgating, or a move across town. When you change apartments, it comes with you, with nothing to reinstall or leave behind. That portability is worth more in Chicago than in most cities, where the typical lease runs twelve months and a big share of renters relocate every year or two; a rooftop system stays with the building, but a battery and its panels go straight into the moving truck along with everything else.
Keep reading: Illinois solar incentives & costs · Portable solar for Boston renters · Portable solar for New York City renters · Portable solar for Miami renters