We’ve made major improvements to how batteries are modeled in Aurora. This update helps ensure your designs better reflect how batteries are sold, priced, and installed in the real world while reducing confusion and change orders.
What's new?
You’ll now see a binary backup toggle when adding a battery to your storage design. This change clearly indicates whether a storage system will have backup capabilities. If selected, you can configure how much of the battery is allocated for backup.
This change replaces the old “Backup” operating mode and simplifies how Aurora models backup behavior.
Why we made this change
Battery installations that support backup require additional hardware and labor—and therefore, higher costs. However, Aurora's previous modeling made it difficult to distinguish backup-capable designs.
By aligning our product with how installers think about backup, we hope to provide a cleaner, more consistent experience that better supports both sales and operations.
How it works
1. Backup Capability Toggle
When you add a battery, you can select whether or not a battery will be used for backup
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Yes → You can then set a backup reserve (% of usable capacity).
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No → Backup reserve fields are hidden.
2. Set a Backup Reserve
If backup is enabled, configure how much of the battery’s capacity is reserved for backup (e.g. 25%, 100%). If backup is set to 100%, then no consumption schedule can be selected.
Note: the backup reserve affects the backup duration and storage bill savings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What happened to the Backup operating mode?
A: It’s been removed. Backup behavior is now determined by the backup reserve and consumption schedule instead.
Q: Will this affect my existing projects?
A: The existing operating modes and backup reserve on previous projects will not be altered.
Q: How does this impact the Sync API?
A: An additional field has been added to the API, and you can find documentation on that change here.
Q: May I see a preview?
A: Yes! Take a tour by clicking this link.
To learn more about storage in Aurora, see our documentation here.