If you’ve been searching for the best renewable power companies for renters, here’s the honest answer for Philadelphia: there isn’t one, because the solar companies that come up all install rooftop systems, and as a renter you don’t own the roof. The best renewable power option for a Philadelphia renter isn’t a company you hire at all. It’s portable solar equipment you buy once: a battery power station plus foldable panels that need no installer, no landlord sign-off, and no wiring, and that keep the fridge, Wi-Fi, and lights on when a storm takes down PECO. On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy interrupted service to more than 550,000 PECO customers as it moved up the coast, part of a storm that cut power to 3.7 million people across Pennsylvania and New Jersey and shattered PECO’s own outage record. Eight years later, the June 2020 derecho and the remnants of Hurricane Ida in September 2021 repeated the pattern, flooding substations and leaving neighborhoods from Manayunk to South Philly dark for days. A row house or a Center City apartment gives you nowhere to run a gas generator safely through any of that. If you’re curious how ownership works more broadly, you can still read up on Pennsylvania solar incentives and costs: but for a rental, portable solar is where to start.
Three storms, one lesson for renters
Sandy, the 2020 derecho, and Ida each knocked out PECO’s grid in a different way (a slow-moving coastal storm dragging wind across the whole region for a full day, a fast summer line of thunderstorms with damaging straight-line gusts, and a tropical system that dumped enough rain to flood underground equipment) but each one left tens or hundreds of thousands of PECO customers waiting on the same thing: crews working block by block to re-string wire or pump out a substation. A renter has no say in how fast that restoration reaches their building, which is the whole reason to have backup that doesn’t depend on it.
Why portable is the renter’s version of solar
Portable solar isn’t a rooftop array shrunk down; it’s a battery power station you charge from the wall or from foldable panels, use indoors, and take with you when your lease ends. There’s nothing bolted to the building and no landlord conversation, which is the whole point in a city where leases turn over every year or two. When a summer derecho or a hurricane’s remnants drop the line, it turns “the power’s out and I can’t do anything about it” into “the fridge and the Wi-Fi are still on.”
What it can and can’t do in an apartment
A portable station covers the essentials cleanly: a fridge draws about 150W, ten LED bulbs roughly 50W together, a router near 10W, and phone charging about 20W, the core of an apartment kept running quietly and with zero exhaust.
| 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 |
| Window AC unit (summer storm) | ~900W | Not recommended on the base unit |
Fridge, Wi-Fi, lights, and phones come to roughly 1,900Wh a day, comfortably inside a mid-size battery’s range for a day or two between charges. What it won’t do is run central AC or electric baseboard heat, and a windowsill or small patio limits how much panel you can set out, so recharging is slower than a rooftop system. For a renter, that trade-off usually makes sense: working backup, with nothing attached to the building.
Where to start
For most Philadelphia renters, a practical size is the HomePower 3000: about 3,072Wh and 3,600W, enough to hold the fridge, Wi-Fi, and lights for one to two days, long enough to cover the restoration window PECO crews needed after both the 2020 derecho and Ida. Its bundle includes foldable solar panels you can set out on a patio, a stoop, or in a sunny window to recharge mid-outage: no rooftop, no wiring, no permission needed.
Current price of the HomePower 3000 at Jackery (panels included)
| Unit | Capacity / output | Best for Philadelphia renters | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| HomePower 3000 | 3,072Wh · 3,600W · panels included | Essentials for 1 to 2 days, moves with you at lease-end | Check price → |
| HomePower 3600 Plus | 3,584Wh · 3,600W · to 21kWh | A larger apartment or a multi-day outage like Sandy's | Check price → |
| Solar Generator 5000 Plus | 5,040Wh · 7,200W · 120V/240V · to 60kWh | A house-share wanting a window AC unit covered too | Check 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 storm
- Charge it as soon as a hurricane watch or a severe-thunderstorm warning is issued. Sandy gave days of notice; a summer derecho can give under an hour.
- Keep it indoors, away from windows during high wind.
- Map which outlets matter. Fridge, router, one lamp, phone chargers.
- Set the panels out on the patio, stoop, or a sunny sill as soon as the storm clears.
- 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: tailgating, camping, or a move across town. And when you move to the next place, it comes with you.
Keep reading: Pennsylvania solar incentives & costs · Portable solar for NYC renters · A Pennsylvania homeowner’s playbook for multi-day outages