As the latest round of hurricanes battered the southeastern US, 98% of Sunnova Energy International Inc.'s rooftop solar arrays in the path of the storms were intact and producing power for customers amid widespread power outages.

Sunnova solar and storage systems powered approximately 19,000 customers during Hurricane Milton and more than 13,000 customers during Hurricane Helene, the Houston-headquartered company announced Oct. 17.

"We're very proud of the results," Sunnova COO Paul Mathews told S&P Global Commodity Insights. "We have a pretty large fleet in both the impact areas for Helene and Milton."

Customers used an average of 25 hours of battery power in the seven days after Hurricane Milton made landfall and an average of 26 hours in the seven days after Hurricane Helene. At the same time, millions of people did not have power.

"I think that we're going to continue to see a slight influx of cases with minor damage, like panels being loose or panels may be coming down or cracks from debris, but all in all, I think our systems held up really well," Mathews said. Sunnova has not received any reports of major damage so far, unlike during prior disasters, such as in Puerto Rico, when entire roofs and systems were destroyed.

So far this hurricane season, more than 100,000 customers in affected areas have not experienced any material damage to their systems, Sunnova said.

Large-scale solar power plants have also largely bounced back from recent hurricanes.

A proactive approach

Sunnova works proactively to monitor storms as they emerge.

"We have an on-site meteorologist, so we have a really good grasp of patching these things pre-formation and then tracking them and preparing as we move towards the impact event," Mathews said.

"Instantaneously, when we recognize that there's a potential tropical storm and/or hurricane developing, we begin an email and online campaign to make sure that people are educated," Mathews added. "Mostly, it's about not interacting with the electrical equipment, particularly if it's submerged in water or if it's wet or damaged."

As the company monitors the weather, "we start moving technicians closer to the area of impact prior to the storm getting there so that we can be first responders and get out on the scene as fast as possible," Mathews said.

"They have all the inventory that they would need based on what we know at the time. And then as soon as the storm hits, directly afterwards, we do a really nice job of identifying any potential road closures, damage to infrastructure ... and after people are situated, technicians roll and they start putting things back together," Mathews said.

Another key asset is Sunnova's Global Command Center, which the company started at the end of 2022. It is a regionalized group that monitors different regions of Sunnova's fleet 24/7. The center, touted as "the brains of the operation," identifies whether or not there is damage to a system or if a part on a system has failed.

"They schedule work for all the technicians, they monitor the technicians with telematics to see where they are, how quickly they're moving between work orders, making sure that they're keeping pace with the schedules on a daily basis," Mathews said. "They're directing traffic, making sure they're communicating with customers, making sure that our technicians understand the equipment and the materials that they may need to actually go out and solve the work order."

The Global Command Center has enabled Sunnova to improve its operations and response, according to the executive.

"The impact has been significant," Mathews said, pointing to a 74% reduction in pending cases since its deployment.

"Part of that was making sure that utilizations were correct and we were measuring the right things, but a better part was being able to have the visibility to where all the issues lie and then running things like machine learning and AI in the background to optimize technician schedules so that we're hitting the most critical work orders, but also in the most efficient way possible," Mathews added.

Post-storm demand surge

Hurricanes Milton and Helene could help spur more interest in residential rooftop solar, as has happened after prior hurricanes.

Sunnova saw a "significant surge" in interest after Hurricane Beryl caused widespread outages in Texas in July and Hurricane Ernesto swept across Puerto Rico and the East Coast, Mathews said.

"I don't think there's any doubt that solar and storage, in particular, provide a really reliable, safe way to maintain resiliency and consistency with your power," Mathews added. "We'll likely see a pretty big uptick all across the East Coast where Helene did some pretty considerable damage and obviously in Florida."

The calls from potential customers have started coming in.

"We've already captured over 100 leads of people calling in," Mathews said. "We'll continue to see that number grow over the next several weeks."

With scientists citing climate change as a contributing factor to intensifying hurricanes and other natural disasters, the Sunnova COO expects more people to recognize the value of battery-backed solar arrays in providing on-site power during outages.

"As a result, people are going to need to rely on sustainable, reliable power," Mathews said.