The Tesla Gigafactory is coming along

But just not widespread — yet.  The Washington Post discusses the small but growing group of people who are going off-grid entirely with the help of batteries for their solar power.  And as battery prices decrease, this trend will only grow, in part thanks to Tesla’s big push in this space:

Batteries already help power homes in places where energy grids are spotty, on islands and in developing countries including India and Bangladesh. But they have remained a niche for homeowners in the U.S., even as more and more demanding connections on America’s aging power grid have pushed power outages up 285 percent since 1984.

Tesla, with its corporate star power, has quickly become the home-battery industry’s best-known cheerleader, and its boosterism could give home batteries their best shot at finding acceptance in mainstream America.

Notably, the only people for now who buy batteries for backup power seem to be those who are concerned about blackouts, want new technology, and have the money to afford it. So it will be important for policy makers to encourage these purchases through better electricity rate design that rewards rooftop solar and other battery customers who can store and discharge power when the grid needs it.