Planning and project development
- Energy planning
- Customer education
- System strategy
- Project development
Arizona Energy Resilience
Understand the system before you choose the system.
Solar, batteries, generators, and your electrical panel have to work together. AER helps Arizona homeowners, ranches, and businesses plan that out before choosing equipment.
01
Start with the operating question. What needs to run, what needs to start, and what needs to last?
Yavapai County · Northern ArizonaOff-grid · Hybrid · Grid-tied · Battery backup
How projects come together
Planning and building are different jobs. Both matter.
Arizona Energy Resilience provides energy planning, customer education, system strategy, and project development for solar, battery backup, generator, hybrid, grid-tied, and off-grid systems.
Where a project requires licensed contracting, electrical work, permitting, or installation, that work is performed by our licensed contractor partner, Connolly Electric & Mechanical (ROC 138415 · ROC 126606 · ROC 298346), as applicable to the project scope.
Licensed work, where the project requires it
- Licensed contracting
- Electrical work
- Permitting
- Installation
Connolly Electric & Mechanical · ROC 138415 · ROC 126606 · ROC 298346
Arizona Energy Resilience provides planning, education, and system design. Licensed contracting, electrical work, permitting, and installation are performed by our contractor partner, Connolly Electric & Mechanical (Chris Connolly Inc.): ROC 138415, residential electrical · ROC 126606, commercial electrical · ROC 298346, air conditioning and refrigeration.
What we help with
Energy resilience, not just panels.
Most properties need a few of these working together. Planning starts with what the property needs to do, and the equipment follows.
Grid-tied solar
Sized from your actual usage, with a clear view of what it does and doesn't do in an outage.
Hybrid solar + battery
Solar, storage, and the grid working together, with the backup boundary decided up front.
Off-grid systems
Cabins, ranches, and remote homes planned around winter production, surge loads, and generator support.
Battery backup
Stored energy and output power sized for the loads you actually need to keep running.
Generator integration
A generator that works with your batteries instead of fighting them.
Well pumps and critical loads
Water, refrigeration, medical equipment, and internet, with motor starting checked first.
SPAN and smart electrical
Smart panels that manage loads so stored energy goes where it matters most.
EV charging
Charging planned with your panel capacity, solar, and future vehicles in mind.
Main service upgrades
When the main panel or service size limits solar, batteries, or charging, it gets planned in from the start.
Existing solar upgrades
Adding batteries, expanding, or sorting out a system that isn't doing what you expected.
Commercial and ranch properties
Operations, critical equipment, and phasing for properties that don't fit a residential template.
Why system design mattersLearn the basics
Two systems with the same panel count can behave very differently in an outage.
A well pump or A/C compressor needs a burst of power just to start. A battery can hold plenty of energy and still not deliver enough at once. A grid-tied system without storage usually turns off with the grid. These details decide whether the water, the fridge, and the lights stay on, so they get worked out before equipment is chosen.
01
Know what has to run
List the loads that matter during an outage, and the ones that can wait.
02
Check energy, power, and surge
Runtime, simultaneous loads, and motor starting are separate checks.
03
Plan for what's next
EVs, added batteries, a shop, a well, or a generator are easier to plan for now than to retrofit later.
How it works
See where your power comes from.
Pick a situation and watch the colored dots move. They show what a system like this is doing at that moment, and why a grid-tied system behaves differently from one with a battery.
Solar runs the house and fills the battery.
Your solar powers your home first, tops off the battery, and any extra can go back to the grid, depending on your utility plan.
- Solar power flows to the inverter.
- Solar power flows from the inverter to your home.
- The battery is charging from solar.
- Extra solar power flows out to the utility grid.
Illustration only. A real design depends on your equipment, the loads you choose to back up, and a site review.
AER planning tools
Run the numbers yourself first.
Both tools give you a preliminary starting point to bring to a project review. Final design depends on a site evaluation, electrical review, permitting, and utility requirements.
Energy Planner
Start from your usage or APS bill, choose what you'd want running in an outage, and see a preliminary solar size and battery concept.
Use the Energy PlannerOff-Grid Designer
For cabins, ranches, and remote homes: daily energy, surge loads, storage, and generator support, laid out step by step.
Start an Off-Grid ReviewReal-world lessons
What comes up on real Arizona projects.
These questions come up again and again with homeowners, ranches, and businesses. Customer names and project details stay private.
A big battery doesn't mean a well pump will start.
Plenty of stored energy and not enough start-up power is a common mismatch. On rural properties, the well pump's surge is one of the first things we check.
Solar alone usually shuts off when the grid does.
Many homeowners assume panels keep the house running in an outage. Without a battery and the right backup configuration, a grid-tied system typically goes down with the grid.
“Whole-home backup” means different things to different people.
One battery rarely runs central A/C, an electric range, and a well pump at the same time. Deciding on critical loads first keeps expectations honest.
Not every older system pairs cleanly with a new battery.
The existing inverter, panel, and wiring decide what's practical. We look at what's already installed before talking equipment.
Generators still have a job.
Short winter days and stretches of cloudy weather can outlast a battery. A generator coordinated with storage can cover the gap that solar alone can't.
A smart panel helps, but it can't fix undersized storage.
SPAN-style load management can stretch a battery by shedding what you don't need. It's a design choice, not a substitute for sizing the system correctly.
How the process works
From the first conversation to a working system.
You'll know what happens at each step and who handles it. Nothing is committed until the design and proposal make sense to you.
- 01
Discovery
A conversation about what you want the system to do: lower bills, outage backup, off-grid living, EV charging, or some mix.
- 02
Bill review
Your APS bill or 12 months of usage. Real numbers beat guesses, and they keep the system from being oversized or undersized.
Send Kent Your APS Bill - 03
Site evaluation
Roof or ground space, shading, the main panel and service size, the well pump, and where equipment can actually go.
- 04
Design
Panels, batteries, inverters, generator support, and critical loads sized around how your property runs, not a preset package.
- 05
Proposal
A written proposal from Connolly Electric & Mechanical (ROC 138415 · ROC 126606 · ROC 298346) that lays out the system, the assumptions behind it, and what it will and won't do.
- 06
Contracting and install handoff
Licensed contracting, electrical work, permitting, and installation are performed by our licensed contractor partner, Connolly Electric & Mechanical, as applicable to the project scope.
- 07
Commissioning
The system is set up, tested, and configured, including backup settings and monitoring, then walked through with you.
- 08
Support
Questions after installation, monitoring check-ins, and planning for later additions like batteries or EV charging.
Not sure where to start?
Start with your bill and what you want the system to do.
Send Kent your APS bill or a quick description of your property. You'll get a straight answer about what makes sense, including when solar or batteries don't.
Prefer email? Send your bill to kent@azenergyresilience.com. Feel free to cover your account number; the usage and rate plan are what matter. Or try the Energy Planner or Off-Grid Designer first.