Connected home
Most South African homes have some form of backup power. Few have it integrated into the way the home actually operates. A standalone inverter trips on, runs the essentials and trips off — useful, but disconnected from the rest of the home. We design power resilience as part of the broader system, so what runs, when, and how is decided by the home itself.
What that integration delivers:
- Backup power tied into your home automation layer — the system knows the grid is down before you notice
- Resilience Mode runs as a scene, shifting the home into the right state automatically without any manual switching
- Status of the system — battery level, solar generation, what's running on backup — visible from your phone or a keypad
Power resilience should be a designed part of the home, not a separate problem you manage.
Backup power
Lithium battery storage paired with the right inverter is the foundation of a properly designed resilience system. The battery and inverter are sized to your actual consumption and the runtime you need — not a generic package that under-delivers in a stage 6 outage or over-spends on capacity you don't use.
How we design backup capacity:
- Battery and inverter capacity calculated against your real load profile, not estimated room counts
- Lithium battery technology chosen for cycle life, depth of discharge and warranty terms — the difference between a system that lasts five years and one that lasts fifteen
- Hybrid inverter configurations that allow seamless switching, grid charging when needed and solar integration without replacement
A resilience system is only as good as the design behind the equipment.
Solar integration
Solar PV transforms a backup system into something more useful — generation that offsets daily consumption, charges the battery and reduces grid dependency over time. Whether it's part of the initial installation or added to an existing inverter and battery setup, the integration needs to be planned so all three components work together rather than in parallel.
What proper solar integration covers:
- Panel array sized to your daily generation goals — full grid offset, partial offset or battery charging — based on consumption data, not assumptions
- Roof layout, orientation and shading analysed before specification so the array performs as modelled
- Inverter and battery configuration that prioritises solar charging during the day, grid only when needed, with monitoring across all three
Solar adds independence. The design decides how much.
Load management
Not everything in the home needs to run during an outage — and trying to keep everything on shortens battery runtime dramatically. Proper load management decides what stays on, what shuts down and what gets prioritised when the grid drops, so the system performs through the longest realistic outage rather than collapsing under load.
How we structure circuits:
- Critical circuits identified and wired separately during installation: lighting, security, networking, refrigeration, gate access, key power outlets
- Discretionary loads — geysers, pool pumps, ovens, tumble dryers — kept off backup unless explicitly needed and consciously activated
- Smart load shedding within the home itself when battery state requires it, prioritising automatically without manual intervention
Resilience isn't running everything. It's running the right things, for as long as you need them.
Resilience mode
When the grid goes down, the home shifts into Resilience Mode automatically. Lighting drops to efficient levels. Non-essential audio and entertainment systems power down. Security stays fully active. Critical networking and gate access continue uninterrupted. The mode persists until the grid returns, then the home shifts back to normal — without anyone touching anything.
What Resilience Mode covers:
- Lighting automatically reduced to efficient scenes, prioritising essential rooms and pathway visibility
- Non-essential systems suspended quietly — heaters, geysers, pool pumps, secondary entertainment
- Security, networking, refrigeration and gate access run uninterrupted, with status visible across the home
Load-shedding doesn't have to mean your home stops working.
How a Space Atelier power resilience project works.
Every system is designed around your home, your habits and your plans — then installed and supported by the same team throughout. We don't quote from a catalogue.
Client Interview & Technology Education
We start by understanding what the system needs to do. How long should it run? What's essential? Where does solar fit, now or later? The right system comes from the right brief.
Initial Design Study
Load profile, runtime modelling, solar generation and equipment specification — all mapped to your home before commitment. You see what the system will do under real conditions.
Design Engineering & Construction Drawings
Full technical documentation — distribution boards, critical circuit wiring, inverter and battery placement, solar array specs, home automation integration. Coordinated with your electrician.
Client Services & Support
After commissioning we stay close. Battery performance, solar yield, system tuning, expansion as your needs grow. We're reachable and we know your system.
Power Resilience — questions worth asking.
It depends entirely on your load profile and the runtime you need. A small lithium system can run a basic critical-circuit setup through stage 4 load-shedding indefinitely. Running a larger home with electric water heating and pool equipment through extended outages requires significantly more capacity. The right size comes from analysing your real consumption — not a generic recommendation.
For most South African households, yes — but the value depends on your goals. Solar that just charges the battery during outages adds a few thousand rand of value over its lifetime. Solar sized to offset daily grid consumption pays for itself within a defined period and continues generating returns for fifteen-plus years. The right approach depends on what you’re trying to achieve.
Often yes, depending on the inverter. Hybrid inverters are designed to integrate solar from the start; some non-hybrid setups can be expanded. We assess what’s installed and advise on the most efficient path — sometimes that’s adding solar, sometimes it’s replacing the inverter to enable proper integration.
Lithium batteries last significantly longer (typically 6,000+ cycles versus 1,500), discharge deeper without damage, charge faster, and require no maintenance. They cost more upfront but the cost-per-cycle is dramatically lower. For any properly designed resilience system, lithium is the right choice.
The home transitions to Resilience Mode automatically — typically within milliseconds, fast enough that you don’t notice. Lighting reduces to efficient levels. Non-essential systems suspend. Security, networking, refrigeration and gate access continue uninterrupted. Battery and solar status remain visible on your phone throughout.
Build Your Brief — it takes a few minutes and gives us enough to come back with a clear next step. For resilience projects, we typically follow up with a load profile review before putting together a proposal.