Posted by Umar Shakir, a news reporter who loves the EV lifestyle and things that connect via USB-C. Prior to joining The Verge, he worked in the IT support industry for over 15 years.
Lunar Energy, a home battery backup company that launched last year, is launching its first product, the Lunar System. It is a versatile hybrid inverter, scalable battery backup system and energy controller that intelligently manages solar and grid power using new or existing solar panels, while giving users the ability to manage the entire system in one app. The so-called “Lunar’s personal power plant” was also touted as an opportunity to make money by getting paid for sending excess electricity to the grid.
Lunar Energy is entering the increasingly crowded energy independence market, with the Tesla Powerwall being the best-known consumer product in the category. Kunal Girotra, founder and CEO of Lunar Energy, is Tesla’s former energy executive, putting him in charge of Tesla’s solar and Powerwall ambitions before leaving in early 2020.
“We’ve outperformed them by a significant margin,” Tesla’s Girotra said during a video call with The Verge that included a demonstration of the lunar system. Girotra said the capabilities offered by the Lunar system—comprehensive control in one compact product, with such large storage capacity and payload control capabilities—do not exist in the market.
If you drive through any suburb these days, you’ll likely see houses with solar panels on their roofs. These homeowners can try to lower their electric bills by saving energy during the day, but these panels don’t do much good when it’s dark or cloudy. When the grid goes down, solar panels alone often cannot power all your appliances. This is why energy storage is such an important factor.
Batteries from companies like Lunar Energy can power homes during power outages, at night or during peak hours, reducing dependence on non-renewable energy sources such as coal-fired power plants.
With Moon Bridge, which acts as a gateway between the grid and the batteries, homes can automatically connect to a backup power source during a power outage or proactively connect to a backup power source when severe weather approaches. Users can also use the app to switch from mains power to battery power in 30 milliseconds without flickering.
The Lunar app is packed with features and data, but only if the user wants to see it. Ostensibly, the app is designed to show you what you need to know: how much energy you have in reserve, how much energy you consume, and how much solar power you generate. It will also provide you with an easy-to-read report on how your electricity is being used at any given time.
You can also sell excess energy back to the grid and connect to other lunar system owners as a virtual power plant (VPP) to maintain local grid stability. You can also accurately calculate your savings rate based on local utility plans.
Lunar energy is entering an increasingly competitive market. Tesla’s Powerwall took up most of the gaming time, combining an attractive tablet (the Powerwall battery) with an app that follows the design language familiar to Tesla owners. Tesla is already disrupting the auto market with its Silicon Valley approach to software development, and Lunar Energy is betting on its own home energy software efforts.
The app has configuration files that you can customize to make the lunar system work the way you like. For example, there’s a “self-consuming” mode in which Lunar Bridge “measures the connection between the grid and the home” and controls it to zero, explained Lunar Energy CTO Kevin Fine in a video call with The Verge.
Fine demonstrated the lunar system live in a test environment. The hardware and software worked as expected, and Fine even showed how to automatically sense the electrical load of a running dryer and keep it running during a simulated power outage.
Of course, you’ll need enough batteries and enough daily sunlight to operate a fully self-powered system. The Lunar system can be configured with 10 to 30 kWh of power per pack, with 5 kWh battery pack increments in between. Lunar tells us that the units use batteries with NMC chemistry.
Built around a powerful inverter built into the main battery pack, the Lunar System can handle up to 10 kW of power while simultaneously handling the load of an electric furnace, dryer and HVAC unit. In comparison, Tesla’s stand-alone Powerwall mini-inverter can only handle a maximum load of 7.6 kW. PowerOcean’s EcoFlow solar backup solution also features a 10kW inverter, but this system is currently only available in Europe.
The Lunar ecosystem also includes Lunar Switch, which can automatically monitor and shut down unnecessary equipment, such as pool pumps, during a power outage. The Moon Breaker can be installed in an existing circuit breaker panel or inside a Moon Bridge (which functions as the main circuit breaker).
According to Lunar’s calculations, the average California home with a 20 kWh Lunar system and 5 kW solar panels will pay for itself within seven years. This installation configuration can cost between $20,000 and $30,000, according to Lunar Energy.
Notably, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) recently reformed the state’s solar incentive system, proposed in November. Now, the new Net Energy Metering 3.0 (NEM 3.0), which applies to all new solar installations, reduces revenue from exported energy generated by solar installations, extending the time homeowners have to recoup equipment and installation costs.
Unlike Tesla, Lunar Energy does not manufacture or sell its own solar panels. Instead, Lunar works with Sunrun and other installers to not only meet customers’ solar energy needs, but also install Lunar systems. Interested customers can set up their systems now on the Lunar Energy website, and starting in the fall they will be able to order through Sunrun.
Correction June 22, 12:28 pm ET: A previous version of this article stated that the upper unit of the lunar device has a 10 kWh battery. The top module is a 10kW inverter with NMC based batteries underneath. We regret this error.
Post time: Sep-18-2023