Winter storm Fern made history at the end of January 2026 as snow and heavy ice precipitation knocked out power to over 230,000 households in Nashville, Tennessee. Many of those were left in the dark for an entire week and some are still working to restore power back as fallen vegetation and broken electrical meters & lines are still in need of repair and clean up.
Lightwave customer Chris Murdock and his family have a 12.4kW of solar system with a three battery (40kWh) system for their home in Nashville, TN. It was early Sunday morning, January 25th, when the Murdocks realized their entire neighborhood went dark. It was no surprise to many Nashvillians and others in the area who got hit by this storm as heavily iced trees and their branches were falling left and right, hitting power lines and poles, causing one of the largest power outages in Nashville’s history.
The first thing the Murdocks did was check their solar and battery backup storage amount on the Powerwall monitoring app. Thankfully they planned ahead of time and charged up the batteries to 80% the day prior. Additionally, the weather storm feature of the Powerwall battery automatically charged them the rest of the way to 100%.
Next, they managed their energy load so that they wouldn’t drain the batteries and shut off their HVAC. Instead they used their gas fireplace and a fan to help circulate the air that successfully heated their 4,000 square foot home. Because the Murdocks had backup power they reached out to neighbors and friends who were without electricity to see if they needed help. They were able to provide a warm shelter to eight additional people on top of running four extension cords from their house to an elderly couple’s home a few doors down.
Throughout the week, the Murdocks managed their energy usage by very closely watching their monitoring app. They and their neighbors staying with them obsessed over it like it was a game, watching the sun charge the solar during the day and the battery storage percentage rise. As Chris recalls, his daughter Ella made jokes about the solar system like, “The solar makes it to where we could survive the zombie apocalypse!”
They enjoyed their time housing their neighbors and friends, cooked big pot meals, played games, and provided plenty of Wi-Fi and power to get through the week. It wasn’t until almost a week later, on the night of Saturday, January 31st, that the grid’s power in their neighborhood was fully restored.
“We were fortunate to have done this. We were able to take care of the neighborhood and take care of people."
- Chris Murdock
Regarding their overall experience with his solar system Chris said, “This far exceeded our expectations of how this was going to work. We never thought in a million years when we put this in place that we would have to power neighbors' houses and have them living with us. The three powerwalls and the panels keep us going!”
Chris’s advice to others who are interested in going solar would be that the return on investment cannot be the focus. The focus is the peace of mind knowing if another power outage occurs you don’t have to spend money on a hotel, food, gas for generators, etc. It just goes to show that having your own resilience from the power grid can save time and money and give peace of mind in the long run.
At Lightwave we are grateful to be in an industry where our team can provide clean, renewable energy and backup power to those in the community to stay resilient all year long but especially in unprecedented times like this major winter storm.
For those interested in how solar and battery storage can help you prepare for winter weather, book a consultation with Lightwave today!
