Greg & his family live in a remote location in the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina. Living on top of a mountain in a secluded location comes with a host of benefits, but the family encountered one major drawback as they prepared the site to build their home: the closest grid power was a mile away.The utility company estimated that it would cost $40,000 to run power to their home, and so they began looking for more cost-effective options. The more they looked into alternate solutions, the more obvious it became that going off-grid and using solar was the best option for them.
Greg enlisted Cape Fear Solar Systems out of Wilmington, NC to design and install the family’s solar power system. Cape Fear recommended using two Fortress Power LFP-15 batteries to power the home, as the chemistry of the batteries is much safer than others on the market.
Recently, Greg decided to upgrade his system to incorporate the Fortress eVault 16.5k battery. The eVault not only has a higher load capacity, but it has a number of other features that were attractive to Greg: an LCD screen that displays pertinent technical information, a competitive price, added overheat and overcharge protections and a longer lifespan.
“There a lot of times we forget we have solar, which is a good thing” says Greg. The Fortress batteries are usually at 100% charge by 11am, allowing the family to seamlessly power their home throughout the day.
The family is 100% off-grid with solar, heat from a wood stove, radiant floor heat with a tankless hot water system, additional tankless hot water for bathrooms and kitchen, a gas stove and a gas dryer.
Greg’s solar system powers his 2,000 square foot home and a separate 30’ x 40’ garage. It consists of thirty 285w LG solar panels, Outback inverters, Outback Flex Max 100 charge controllers, a Generac 22kW generator, and 2 eVault 16.5k batteries.
