I'm in New Orleans, with PV panels and a 2-PW Tesla backup. My system handled the storm very well, almost perfectly. I've got a simple gabled roof with 18 Sunpower panels facing SSW. Our strongest winds were from the east, then swinging to the south. I've got a dozen shingles missing, but no structural damage and no damage to the panels. My roof damage is comparable to my neighbors'. I've seen a lot of shingles and tarped roofs around the city, but I have not seen any damage to any solar arrays. I think the code requires them to be installed to handle a 130-mph sustained wind, but that may have been my system specification and not code.
My PW's took over when the power failed as the storm made landfall, and I didn't have as much as a blinking clock. Our neighborhood was out of power from August 29 to the early morning of Sept. 6, and I managed to keep the batteries from running down below about 20%. We had a good amount of sunshine, so were able to run the downstairs central a/c (variable speed, high efficiency) in the daytime and into evening, set to 78 degrees. Upstairs a/c (less efficient, hotter location) only ran about an hour a day. We had plenty of power for fridge, lights, fans. I'd like to have a few more panels and 3 or 4 PW's, but that's cost-prohibitive at this point, so I have to manage the power usage.
We lost internet service early on August 30, presumably when the provider's backup batteries died, but the PW system could communicate locally via its wifi network as well as by cellular connection when we were not at the house.
The only apparent fault in the system was the still-confusing Storm Watch mode. Tesla decides when that runs. It ran for a while about 48 hours before the storm, when my batteries charged from the grid to 100% (or more, per the experts). But then it stopped doing Storm Watch and the batteries went down to 97-98% by the time the storm hit. It seems like the batteries should remain topped off as the storm approaches. I was set to backup-only the entire time.
For New Orleans, this was a serious storm, but our conditions were the type we get roughly every 10-15 years -- serious, but manageable. The city didn't experience the 150 mph sustained winds experienced by the poor folks nearer the eye, where a gust of 172 was registered on the coast. For reference, 150mph is a strong EF-3 tornado; 170 mph is an EF4. Still, in the city, this was nothing like Katrina. Ida's gusts in the city hit 90-110, depending on location, but sustained winds would have been lower. There was no flooding in the city. Power is now back in over 95% of the city, restaurants and grocery stores and home-repair stores are open and relatively well-stocked. Outlying areas will be in bad shape for a while.
