Michigan Solar System Expansion
Add Battery Storage to Your Existing Solar
Backup power and more production, built onto the system you already own.
Most Michigan solar systems can take a battery, more panels, or both. We look at the equipment you have, check it against your DTE Energy or Consumers Energy program, and design the addition around it. We expand systems whether or not we did the install, including systems whose original installer has closed.
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What Adding to Your System Gets You
Power Through Outages
A battery switches your home to stored power when the grid goes down, and your panels recharge it during the day. With solar battery backup in place, an ice storm or a summer line of thunderstorms does not have to mean a dark house and a warm refrigerator.
Keep More of Your Own Solar
On Michigan’s distributed generation program, solar you send to the grid is credited at a lower rate than the power you buy back in the evening. A battery holds that midday solar so your home can use it after sunset instead.
Run Your Generator Less
If you already have a standby generator, a battery lets your solar carry most of an outage, and with the right setup the generator starts only when the battery runs low. That means less runtime and less fuel to keep on hand.
Adding a battery
Find Your Starting Point
The equipment you already have running decides how a battery connects to it. Here is how we usually approach each setup, and which systems tend to fit.
You Have Enphase Microinverters
Enphase IQ Batteries join your existing system and show up in the same Enphase app. The IQ Battery 5P suits a smaller add-on, and 10C units cover larger reserves. We add them to Enphase systems from any installer.
Often a fit
Enphase IQ Battery 5P or 10C
You Have a String Inverter or Another Brand
An AC-coupled battery installs alongside your current inverter, so the panels and inverter you own stay in place. The FranklinWH aPower 2 is what many of our Michigan retrofits end up using, and Tesla Powerwall 3 also works with solar you already have.
Often a fit
FranklinWH aPower 2, Tesla Powerwall 3
You Want More Panels Too
When panels and a battery go in together, a battery with a solar inverter built in can take the new panels directly while your existing array keeps its own inverter. Powerwall 3 and the FranklinWH aPower S are both built this way.
Often a fit
Tesla Powerwall 3, FranklinWH aPower S
You Want Backup for Long Outages
A Sol-Ark hybrid inverter connects to existing solar on the AC side without replacing your current inverter, and it brings a standby generator into the same system. That suits rural homes, farms, and properties where outages tend to run long.
Often a fit
Sol-Ark hybrid inverter with certified batteries
Not sure what you have? Send us a photo of the label on your inverter to the form, or tell us who installed your system. If production has dropped or your monitoring app shows faults, we start with a solar system diagnostic so the addition goes onto a system that is working efficiently.
The Batteries We Add to Existing Solar
| Battery | Usable storage | How it joins existing solar | Often chosen for |
|---|---|---|---|
| FranklinWH aPower 2 | 15 kWh per unit | AC-coupled, beside your current inverter | Most Michigan retrofits, whole-home backup, generator pairing |
| Tesla Powerwall 3 | 13.5 kWh per unit | Connects to existing solar, with its own solar inverter for new panels | Whole-home backup, adding panels at the same time |
| Enphase IQ Battery 5P or 10C | 5 or 10 kWh per unit | Joins an existing Enphase microinverter system | Homes already on Enphase |
| Sol-Ark hybrid inverter | Sized to the battery bank | AC-coupled through the Sol-Ark inverter | Long outages, generators, rural properties |
Manufacturer specifications. Your design names the exact model and quantity.
See What Your System Can Do
Send us your setup, and we will tell you what fits and what it costs.
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Michigan utility rules
What Changes With DTE Energy and Consumers Energy
Your utility has to approve a battery or new panels before they’re switched on. We file the application with DTE Energy or Consumers Energy for you, and the rules below shape what we design.
Adding a battery
A Battery Is Treated Differently
DTE does not count a battery as generation, and adding storage to an existing approved inverter can keep legacy net metering in place. Other configurations can trigger the move to distributed generation, so we confirm how your utility treats your specific setup before we design it.
Operating mode
Every Battery Runs in an Approved Mode
Both utilities require the battery to run in an approved operating mode, and DTE requires that mode to be named on the application. The mode controls whether the battery can charge from the grid or send stored energy back to it.
Adding panels
Your Billing Program Can Change
Legacy net metering and distributed generation are separate billing programs. If you are on legacy net metering, adding generation capacity moves you to distributed generation under both DTE Energy and Consumers Energy rules.
Sizing
Panel Additions Are Sized to Your Usage
Michigan limits distributed generation systems to 110% of your electricity use over the previous 12 months, according to the Michigan Public Service Commission. If you recently bought an EV or a major appliance, DTE will consider the receipts as evidence of the added load.
Any installer
We Expand Systems Other Companies Installed
Your original installer does not have to be involved. We work on systems other companies put in, including ones whose installer has closed. Before adding anything, we look at what is there: the equipment, how it is wired, and which manufacturer warranties are still active, so you know how the addition affects them before work starts.
12 kW
Original array, another contractor
22.2 kW
After our 2024 addition
68.8 kW
After the expansion now underway
Project · Detroit
Boggs School
The school already had a 12 kW rooftop array from another contractor when they called us. In 2024 we added 10.2 kW alongside it and sized the conduit for future growth. The school came back for a 46.6 kW expansion, which will take the roof to 68.8 kW.
Adding panels
Adding Panels to an Existing System
More panels make sense when your electricity use has grown, from a new EV charger, a heat pump, or more people at home, and your roof or yard has room for them.
Panels and a battery can go in as one project, which is often the cleanest way to cover new load and add backup at the same time. On an older system, it is worth weighing expansion against replacement before adding anything.
Roof space and condition. If the roof is close to replacement, it should come first.
Inverter capacity. A string inverter has a fixed limit, while microinverter systems add panels one at a time.
Panel match. New panels have to work electrically with the ones already up there.
Your electrical service. Some additions need panel or wiring upgrades.
How it works
How an Expansion Works
1
Tell Us What You Have
Send the form with a photo of your inverter label, who installed the system, and what you want to add. Monitoring app access helps if you have it.
2
We Review Your System and Usage
We look at your production history and your DTE Energy or Consumers Energy bills, and confirm the current system is performing before we plan anything on top of it.
3
Design, Permits, & Utility Application
You get a design and proposal in writing. Once you approve it, we handle the permit and the interconnection application.
4
Install and Switch It On
We install, commission, and set up monitoring, then stay available for support once it is running.
Why Strawberry Solar
Why Michigan Solar Owners Expand With Strawberry Solar
Certified on Every System We Add
We are a certified FranklinWH installer, a Tesla Certified Installer, a Certified Enphase Installer, and a Silver Installer in the Sol-Ark Installer Corps Program. We are not tied to any one of them, so the recommendation follows your system.
Any Original Installer
Who put your panels up does not limit what we can add to them.
Michigan Utility Rules
We know where DTE Energy and Consumers Energy draw the lines on legacy net metering, distributed generation, and storage.
Detroit Since 2010
Over 15 years of Michigan solar installations, run from one office in Detroit.
Two Warranties, Kept Separate
Our 10-year workmanship warranty covers the work we do, and new equipment carries its own manufacturer warranty.
Financing Through Michigan Saves
We are an authorized Michigan Saves contractor, and financing may be available through Michigan Saves.
We only work with brands we trust and would install on our own homes. We do this to ensure that every customer is satisfied with their solar setup.
FAQs
Solar System Expansion Questions
Yes. Adding a battery or panels means a new interconnection application with DTE Energy or Consumers Energy, including the battery’s specification sheets and its operating mode. We prepare and file it as part of the project.
It depends on the operating mode named on your application. In import-only mode the battery can charge from the grid but does not send stored energy back out. In export-only mode it does not charge from the grid. In no-exchange mode it does neither. We recommend the mode that fits your goals, and with DTE, changing it later takes a new application.
It can, depending on the manufacturer and the equipment involved. We review the active manufacturer warranties on your system before work starts. Our 10-year workmanship warranty covers the work we do, and new equipment carries its own manufacturer warranty.
Ready to Add a Battery to Your Solar?
Send us your setup and what you want to add, and we will show you what your system can take. Serving homeowners across Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.
or call