It's a home energy game changer: dcbel's Ara Core Home Energy Station arrives in Texas at the Southern Living Idea House

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Sep 18, 2026, 09:00 ET

Texans can be among the first to benefit from dcbel's flagship product. With Ara® Core at the center, homeowners can build a private grid for blackout protection, reduced energy costs, and up to 85% energy independence.

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 18, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- dcbel, the integrated home energy company, today announced the launch of the Ara Core Home Energy Station in Texas, giving homeowners the means to reduce their reliance on an increasingly strained public grid – slashing energy bills while protecting against blackouts from day one.

Ara Core from dcbel, currently on display in the 2026 Southern Living Idea House, connects and orchestrates solar panels, home batteries, the public grid, and even bidirectional EVs for up to 85% home energy independence.

dcbel Ara is making its Texas debut in the 2026 Southern Living Idea House.

Through industry-leading intelligent management, Ara Core connects and orchestrates solar panels, home batteries, the public grid, and even bidirectional EVs, creating a private grid that helps homeowners generate, store, and manage their own energy through a groundbreaking all-in-one system. Ara Core's key features include:

100 decisions per second to consume, store, or sell energy with the intelligent Orchestrate OS;
Reduced energy bills with up to 85% independence from the grid;
Blackout protection using solar, battery storage, or a compatible bidirectional EV that can power a home for up to 10 days;
A centralized station that minimizes power losses as it routes energy where needed, providing up to 30% more efficiency over traditional unintegrated energy systems.

To mark its arrival in Texas, dcbel is proud to be powering the 2026 Southern Living Idea House. The custom-built residence in Fredericksburg showcases the latest innovations in architecture, design, and home technology. Tours will be open to builders, renovators, designers, and the public from September 18 through December 20.

"With its thoughtful design and innovation, the 2026 Southern Living Idea House was the perfect place to showcase the next evolution of home energy in Texas, for the very first time," said Benjamin Tuff, CMO at dcbel.

"More than ever, Texas homeowners want greater control over their energy," said Marc-André Forget, CEO and co-founder of dcbel. "Whether they're looking to keep the lights on during outages or reduce utility costs, they need a solution that brings everything together. Ara was designed to be the foundation of a home's private grid, helping homeowners decide when to generate, store, use or export energy through one intelligent platform."

The growing need for energy resilience

Several converging trends are reshaping how Texans think about energy:

Texas has the nation's second-highest number of power outages, while energy costs have risen 40% since 2020.
dcbel's 2026 Home Energy Independence Report found that 91% of homeowners want greater energy independence, while 77% identified lower monthly energy bills as their top priority.
Major weather events caused Texas customers to experience nearly 3x more outage hours in 2024 than in 2023.
A recent heat wave pushed electricity demand in Texas to new highs, with six straight weeks that exceeded the state's previous all-time load record.
Demand is forecast to grow 14% this year – 600% higher than the national average of 2% – as large data centers and cryptocurrency mining facilities come online.

More than ever, Texans are exploring new energy options such as home batteries, solar panels, and alternative charging solutions to buffer these rising costs and create stability as reliability wavers.

One system for maximum efficiency

The problem? Conventional systems often rely on multiple separate, expensive and complex devices and power conversions that can result in energy losses of up to 30%. In other words, a portion of the energy generated never makes it to where it's needed most.

Ara Core takes a new approach. It's a single point of conversion that intelligently manages home energy with over 100 decisions a second, routing energy between solar panels, home batteries, bidirectional EVs, and the home with minimal losses.

The result is a significantly more efficient energy ecosystem that helps homeowners get more bang for their buck from every kilowatt-hour.

A private grid that grows with your home

Once installed, Ara Core creates the foundation of a home's intelligently managed private grid. Yours to own and control, the private grid allows homeowners to add solar panels, bidirectional EVs, or batteries without costly retrofits or replacing existing equipment later.

Keeping blackouts at bay and reducing energy costs, Ara Core can charge two EVs simultaneously and is futureproof for bidirectional charging; leveraging the massive amount of energy stored in a compatible EV for up to 10 days of blackout protection.

And another huge benefit? Ara Core homeowners can sell back excess energy through vehicle-to-grid and energy market programs which the Home Energy Station will manage seamlessly in the background.

Powered by the Texan sun with Ara Core +solar

For homeowners considering solar to maximize their independence, Ara Core +solar allows customers to add solar panels to generate and store more usable energy every day. Ara Core +solar's DC microinverter architecture creates a direct path from roof to road, and makes it possible to charge your EV with the sun and add up to 20,000 free miles of EV range per year. It also enables solar to continue powering a home during a blackout.

First in class, built to last

Ara Core is engineered to the highest standards of durability, security, and design.

Built in the USA in collaboration with visionary automotive designer Paul Deutschman, Ara Core features advanced military-grade encryption, stringent UL and CSIP certifications, and a NEMA 3R-rated enclosure suitable for indoor or outdoor installation.

A comprehensive 12-year warranty helps protect homeowners' investment for years to come.

Reserve your system today

Texans can register to learn more or reserve their system at dcbel.energy/texas with a refundable deposit.

Once a reservation is placed, a dcbel Energy Specialist works directly with each household to confirm eligibility, identify available incentives, and connect homeowners with an approved local installer. From the first conversation through installation and ongoing support, homeowners benefit from a single point of contact throughout their energy journey.

About dcbel

At dcbel, we believe people should lead the modern energy ecosystem. As mobility becomes increasingly electric and demand grows, we are relentless in our pursuit of home energy solutions that are reliable, clean, and free from limitations. Because everyone in the world deserves energy without compromise.

Learn more at dcbel.energy

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