Sizing Your Solar System
By: Balto Staff
Filling the Information Gap to Future-Proof your Solar Install
Today, investing in solar energy makes more sense than ever before, promising long-term savings, resiliency from grid outages and rising utility costs, and environmental benefits. But determining the appropriate design for your solar system can be a complex process for many homeowners, particularly if you’re planning to someday buy an EV, switch to an electric heat pump, or spring for that new induction stove you’ve always wanted.
We’ve talked to homeowners that are looking to electrify and go solar but have received quotes for solar installs with wildly different system designs and price points. Since solar installs are typically sized using historical data and contractors don’t know how new electric devices might impact energy needs, sizing a system becomes a game of darts with a moving target. This is not because the solar salesperson is dishonest or because the products are that different. It’s because there’s an information gap—and Balto is closing it.
How Balto is Revolutionizing Energy Modeling
The traditional process for sizing a solar system no longer works amid the mass transition to electrify our vehicles and home devices. Historically, contractors used past energy bills to understand energy use and size a system. This information is still important today, but it’s simply not enough detail. For a homeowner who may buy an EV in the future, historical data doesn’t help us understand the owner’s charging behavior or vehicle range—and making a guess can lead to inaccurate modeling and costly future upgrades.
Balto takes a completely different approach:
Balto’s modeling engine layers past energy bills over a physics based model of the home to break down your utility bill. Your utility bill may not tell you which appliances are guzzling the most gas and costing you the most money, but we can.
Next, Balto simulates a future-state model of your home where everything is electrified and powered by solar and battery storage. We map this model against the current model of your home to identify every single possible pathway you could take to get from point a to point b. There are hundreds of thousands of configurations.
Balto’s advanced decision architecture then narrows down the options to only a handful based on the homeowner’s unique interests and priorities, whether it be cost savings, resilience to power through outages, to defect from your utility, or otherwise.
Then the homeowner and contractor work together to customize further. Perhaps you’d like to see a version of your home with a heat pump and one without. Perhaps you’d like to see the difference in savings with an electric F-100 Lighting versus a Tesla Model 3. Based on these priorities, Balto maps a solar-led electrification pathway that best fits your unique needs and lifestyle.
By offering a clear, customizable pathway to solar and electrification, Balto is creating a path forward for homeowners and the solar industry alike.
Join the SLED Movement
Rising electricity prices, grid instability, and the need to decarbonize all signal the importance of adopting SLED now. With Balto Energy’s tools and financing solutions, homeowners can create a pathway toward an electrified lifestyle and pave the way for a more sustainable, resilient, and cost-effective energy future. Get in touch with us to see how SLED can work for you.
