America’s 250th birthday on July 4th marked the last day to “safe harbor” a new solar project and still get the 30% solar tax credit – a milestone that many feared would mean the death of home solar. 28 days (ish) later, though, the industry is anything but dead.

A Reddit post making the rounds this week claims the US has experienced at least one major power outage every month of 2026 – but is it true? I dug into several outages, the extreme weather behind them, and what we can do to help keep the lights on.

There’s no shortage of advice on how to size a home solar and battery system, but most of it assumes a suburban home with city services and outages measured in hours, not days. Rural homes play by different rules, especially during summer storms. When heavy winds take down power lines and your utility prioritizes restoring urban neighborhoods first, having a home battery isn’t about convenience — it’s about damage control.

With less than a month left before the key, July 4th Federal Clean Energy tax-credit deadline, a federal judge has handed the solar industry an unexpected win, restoring the 5% safe harbor that Trump’s IRS tried to kill.

The window to claim a 30% tax credit on your solar panel project is closing July 4th, which means you’ve got just one month left to safe harbor your project and preserve your eligibility – keep reading to find out how.