Solar and battery installer
in Auburn, CA.
Auburn is in one of the most PSPS-affected areas in all of PG&E territory. When fire season arrives and the wind picks up, Auburn homeowners have learned not to assume the power will stay on. Solar and battery changes that. Your panels recharge the battery every day the sun is up. You stop waiting for PG&E to restore power and start managing on your own production.
- Multi-day PSPS backup power
- Well pump sizing included
- More sun hours than the valley
- CSLB licensed. Free consult.
Auburn homeowners know
what a multi-day PSPS feels like.
Auburn sits in the Sierra Nevada foothills in one of the areas most affected by PG&E's Public Safety Power Shutoff program. When fire conditions develop, which in Auburn means high Diablo or North winds combined with low humidity, PG&E cuts power along the transmission corridors that serve the foothills. Auburn is in those corridors.
The outages are not always brief. When conditions are severe, PSPS events in Auburn can last two, three, or four days. Homeowners with wells face a specific compounding problem: no electricity means no well pump, which means no water pressure. The refrigerator stops. The internet goes down. If there is medical equipment on that circuit, the consequences are more serious.
A Powerwall 3 automatically switches to backup mode within milliseconds of a grid outage. No manual switching. No generator warmup. Your backed-up circuits stay live. With solar recharging the battery each day the sun is up, a properly sized system can sustain a home through a four-day PSPS event as long as you are managing your loads reasonably.
The rate arbitrage case for solar on PG&E with NEM 3.0 is real in Auburn. But for most Auburn homeowners who call us, the first thing they mention is PSPS. The financial case is what they verify once they believe the backup case is solved.
What Auburn homeowners most want running during a PSPS
If your home has a well,
PSPS means no water. That changes the battery sizing.
A significant portion of Auburn homes are on private wells rather than municipal water. When the grid goes down, the well pump stops. No power, no water pressure. No water to drink, cook with, or flush. During a multi-day PSPS event in August, that becomes urgent quickly.
A typical well pump draws 750 to 2,000 watts when running, with a starting surge of two to three times that. Sizing a battery to sustain a well pump through a multi-day event requires more capacity than the standard single Powerwall 3 that suffices for a city home. We assess your specific well pump specs, starting current, and daily cycle as part of the backup load analysis at the free consult. The system design comes from those numbers, not from a standard package.
For Auburn homes with wells, we often recommend two Powerwall 3 units paired with a solar system sized to fully recharge them each day. That combination keeps water running, refrigerators cold, and lights on through a week-long PSPS event in fire season.
More sun hours than
Sacramento and the valley.
Auburn's elevation in the Sierra Nevada foothills puts it above the Tule fog layer that blankets the Sacramento Valley floor in the fall and winter months. It also sees more total sun days than coastal-influenced areas to the west. More peak sun hours per day means a given system size produces more electricity in Auburn than the same system would at lower elevation in Sacramento or Folsom.
This is a genuine advantage for Auburn solar economics. A 10 kW system in Auburn produces meaningfully more annually than a 10 kW system in a valley location with winter fog. We use Auburn-specific solar irradiance data when we size your system, not a generic NorCal estimate. You see the production projection and payback timeline based on your actual location, not an average.
NEM 3.0 applies in Auburn too.
Auburn is PG&E territory and NEM 3.0, the Net Billing Tariff, applies to all new solar installations here. Export credits dropped by about 75% in April 2023. Without a battery, a solar system in Auburn exports cheap midday power and buys it back expensive at night. But for most Auburn homeowners, the PSPS backup case already makes a battery the obvious choice — and NEM 3.0 is another reason to have one, not the primary one.
NEM 3.0 explained in fullAuburn areas and communities
we work in regularly.
Auburn spans from the historic downtown at lower elevation through foothill subdivisions and rural properties climbing toward higher ground. We install throughout:
Not listed? Call 916-461-9961. We cover all of Auburn and surrounding Placer and El Dorado County.
Utility serving Auburn
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E)
Auburn is incorporated as a city. Most Auburn solar permits go through the City of Auburn Building Division. Unincorporated properties in the surrounding Placer County area go through Placer County. We confirm which jurisdiction applies to your address before any permit work begins.
pge.comPrograms relevant to
Auburn homeowners on PG&E.
No SMUD rebate in Auburn. The case here starts with PSPS backup and NEM 3.0 battery strategy. PG&E rate savings and the property tax exclusion add to the financial picture.
Battery Backup Power
What stays on during a PSPS. How to size for a well pump, a freezer, a home office. How long it lasts.
Learn more →NEM 3.0 Explained
Applies in Auburn. Export credits down 75%. Battery is the fix for the NEM 3.0 economics too.
Read the explainer →PG&E Rate Hike
Rates up 104% since 2015. More increases locked in. Solar reduces the variable portion of every PG&E bill.
See the math →Property Tax Exclusion
California §73 keeps solar off your Placer County property tax assessment through Jan 1, 2027.
See the details →We install across NorCal.
What Auburn homeowners
ask us most.
How bad are PSPS shutoffs in Auburn?
Auburn and the surrounding Placer and El Dorado County foothills are among the most frequently and severely PSPS-affected areas in all of PG&E territory. When high winds and low humidity create fire conditions, PG&E cuts power along the transmission corridors that serve the foothills, and Auburn is in those corridors. Events can last from several hours to four or five days. Homeowners on wells face a compounding problem because no power means no water pressure. A solar plus battery system recharges each day the sun is up and sustains critical loads through multi-day events.
Does a well pump affect how I size my battery?
Significantly. A typical well pump draws 750 to 2,000 watts when running, with a starting surge of two to three times that. Sizing a battery to sustain a well pump through a multi-day PSPS event requires more capacity than a standard backup system designed for lights and a refrigerator only. We assess your specific well pump specs as part of the backup load analysis at the free consult. For most Auburn homes with wells, we recommend two Powerwall 3 units with a solar system sized to fully recharge them each day.
Does solar produce more power in Auburn than in Sacramento?
Generally yes. Auburn's elevation puts it above the Tule fog that blankets the Sacramento Valley in fall and winter. More sun hours per day means a given system size produces more electricity in Auburn than the same system at lower elevation in Sacramento or Folsom. We use Auburn-specific solar irradiance data when we size your system, not a generic NorCal average. You get a production projection based on your actual location and roof orientation.
Design backup power that actually
handles an Auburn PSPS event.
We size for your real loads including well pumps, assess your roof and usage, and show you the numbers. Free consult. No same day pressure.