An Unexpected Test of Our Resiliency

In May, our offices underwent an accidental, unexpected test of our resilience system, made possible by our battery wall and solar panel array. One morning in May, our staff arrived to our office to find that several yards of copper wiring connecting our office building to LADWP’s power grid was stolen! The good news is that most of our staff working in the office today had no idea that we were not connected to the grid, as our solar panels and powerwall system has allowed our business to operate normally.

After keeping a close eye on our powerwall system levels, and solar production and consumption that first day, where we utilized 12.4 kWh of 20 kWh generated, Holos offices intentionally stayed unconnected to the grid for a full week to truly test how resilient our building could be.

While most days were heavy with May Gray in the mornings, we consistently generated more power than our office needed to operate, even when we reconnected our AC system to our solar breakers on Thursday (3 days after the incident). With the AC running intermittently as needed, which was minimal as it wasn’t too hot out that week, there was no day where we used an excess of 25kWhs throughout the office, with an average usage per day just under 20kWh. The average solar power generated that week was 38 kWh.

While our office was not connected to the grid the EV chargers were not operational, as they do not tie to the solar breakers. This shows that Holos’ office is completely self-sustaining, and can serve as an example of how these kinds of systems promote resiliency in times of crisis. While this incident was a result of man-made interference, our systems would have operated the same way had we been struck by a blackout or another unexpected occurence.

This incident and what we’ve learned from it is a tremendous testament to the work we’ve put into our office/living lab and what is possible in our residential buildings. Thank you staff and board for your leadership and dedication to our resilience, and to the Ahmanson Foundation for supporting the installation of our solar panels and batteries.