Brooke lives in Asheville, North Carolina, a city nestled in one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the country. It’s also the site of much flooding and damage from Hurricane Helene in 2024.

Before the storm hit, Brooke had purchased an electric vehicle. After realizing how much he appreciated the savings on fuel and the lower maintenance costs that come with an EV, he decided he was also interested in installing solar panels on his home. He hadn’t done it yet when Helene caused days-long power outages across the region.

His car gave him a secret weapon, though. With nowhere to go in the aftermath of the worst storm to hit Western North Carolina in decades, Brooke used the stored energy in his EV to power his family’s refrigerator, computer and wi-fi, and this little bit of power made an enormous difference to his family. This experience motivated him to go ahead and install solar panels on his home.

He connected with a local installer about placing panels on the sunniest part of his roof. But it was expensive, and the math was hard to make work in the short term.

That’s not unusual. Solar panels on your home don’t generally pay for themselves immediately with energy savings. Their value is often clearest when you look at a longer time period. The trick is to find a lender to finance the project. Self-Help offered Brooke a competitive rate on the project and helped Brooke access available clean energy incentives, making the project more affordable.

Brooke felt the value of his decision almost immediately when a hard freeze hit Asheville not long after his panels were installed. Many of Brooke’s neighbors lost power, but Brooke’s family could rely on solar energy to power their whole home. Once Brooke adds battery storage to his setup, the family can draw on their solar energy directly rather than relying on the grid, which will give them peace of mind, especially in bad weather.