If you rent or own a condo in Miami-Dade, a rooftop solar quote doesn’t apply: you don’t control the roof, and most association bylaws don’t allow you to touch it anyway. When Florida Power & Light’s grid goes down in a hurricane, every unit in the building goes dark the same way, rooftop panels or not. A portable solar generator is the backup that doesn’t need a roof, a permit, or a gas can you can’t legally keep on a balcony.
South Florida gets hit directly and often. Hurricane Wilma made landfall near Cape Romano on October 24, 2005, and left about 3.2 million of FPL’s 4.3 million customers without power statewide: nearly 1.6 million of them still dark in Broward and Miami-Dade counties days later, with FPL not expecting to fully restore parts of those two counties for three to four more weeks. Hurricane Irma in 2017 knocked out power to nearly all of Miami-Dade at its peak, and more recent storms like Milton have repeated the pattern of days-long outages even for buildings well inland from the coast. You can read up on Florida solar incentives and costs for the ownership picture, but if you rent or don’t control your roof, a portable station such as the HomePower 3000, covered below, is the practical answer.
Wilma, Irma, Milton: the same weeks-long wait
Wilma, Irma, and Milton hit South Florida twelve years apart from each other in some cases, but FPL’s restoration order hasn’t changed: hospitals, water treatment plants, and major feeders come back first, then substations, then individual neighborhoods and buildings, block by block. That order is why a renter on the wrong side of a feeder line can sit dark for weeks after a storm that a mile away barely caused a flicker. A charged battery doesn’t wait on that order at all.
Why portable fits a Miami-Dade rental or condo
Portable solar is a battery power station, not a rooftop system: you charge it from the wall before a storm, run it indoors or on a covered balcony during the outage, and take it with you when the lease ends or you move units. Nothing is bolted to the building, no HOA vote is needed, and, unlike a gas generator, there’s no fuel to store and no exhaust to worry about in a shared stairwell or a unit with neighbors on every side. That matters most in the exact building types where most Miami renters live: mid-rise and high-rise condos where gas generators are commonly banned outright.
What it can and can’t do
A portable station covers the essentials that matter most in a South Florida hurricane: a fridge draws about 150W, a box fan roughly 60W, a router near 10W, and phone charging about 20W, enough to protect food, stay connected to family and evacuation updates, and keep air moving in a unit with the AC down.
| Load | Typical draw | Energy per day |
|---|---|---|
| Fridge/freezer | ~150W running (cycling) | ~1,200Wh |
| Wi-Fi router | ~10W | ~240Wh |
| Box fan | ~60 to 100W | ~500 to 800Wh |
| Phone and laptop charging | ~20 to 60W | ~150 to 250Wh |
| Window/portable AC unit | ~700 to 1,200W | Not recommended on the base unit |
Fridge, Wi-Fi, a fan, and phones come to roughly 2,000Wh a day, well inside a mid-size battery’s range for a day or two between charges. What it won’t do is run central air conditioning or an electric water heater, and once the storm passes, the foldable panel bundle lets you recharge from a balcony or lanai without waiting on FPL. In the weeks after a storm like Wilma, that’s the difference between spoiled groceries and a fridge that’s still cold.
Where to start
For most Miami-Dade renters and condo owners, a practical size is the HomePower 3000: about 3,072Wh and 3,600W, enough to keep the fridge, Wi-Fi, fans, and phones running for one to two days per charge. Its bundle includes foldable solar panels you can set out on a balcony once the wind drops, so it keeps recharging through a multi-day, or multi-week, FPL restoration instead of draining and going dark.
Current price of the HomePower 3000 at Jackery (panels included)
| Unit | Capacity / output | Best for Miami renters | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| HomePower 3000 | 3,072Wh · 3,600W · panels included | Essentials for 1 to 2 days, no roof or HOA sign-off needed | Check price → |
| HomePower 3600 Plus | 3,584Wh · 3,600W · to 21kWh | A larger condo or a weeks-long restoration like Wilma's | Check price → |
| Solar Generator 5000 Plus | 5,040Wh · 7,200W · 120V/240V · to 60kWh | A house-share wanting a portable AC unit covered too | Check price → |
If that size doesn’t fit your place (a studio that needs less, or a larger condo or 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 hurricane season
- Charge it at the start of hurricane season, not once a storm is already spinning in the Atlantic or the Gulf.
- Top up fully as soon as a cone includes South Florida.
- Keep it indoors, away from windows and glass doors during the storm.
- Map which outlets matter. Fridge, router, a fan, phone chargers.
- Set the panels out on the balcony or lanai as soon as the wind drops.
- Keep a battery-powered CO alarm regardless: a neighbor’s gas generator can still put CO in your unit.
Because it runs near 30 decibels and produces zero exhaust, it’s safe to use in a closed condo or apartment: a real advantage in buildings where a gas generator is against the rules or simply too dangerous to run.
Keep reading: Florida hurricane battery backup guide · Hurricane backup power in Orlando · Portable solar for Chicago renters · Florida solar incentives & costs