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I figured out how to manage electricity for winter.  This would be a good tip to tell players when the game is released to the public, though the information might change sometime in the future. 

At the very start of the "day," I have as many batteries (Tier 3 is best) as possible on "Absorb Electricity" mode.  If I have any Zorium plants, I run them on "Low Burn" mode, to save on Zorium.  Electricity needs aren't as high in the sunny hours, and plus, I learned the hard way, that if you have the Zorium plant running on "Normal" mode all the time, it eats up the mineral too fast and you have to wait for it to trickle out of the mining plant.  "Low Burn" is better in that respect. 

When the end of "Autumn Evening" comes, with the frost forming on the screen, I use it as a signal to switch to what I call "Winter Mode."  I'll pause the game and switch the Zorium Plants over to "Normal Mode," and have all the batteries provide power instead of absorbing electricity.  Hopefully by then, they have enough hours of electricity stored in them, that they'll be good for the whole "Winter Night."  That way, when the solar panels switch over to "Winter Mode," there's no loss in electricity to the colony, and no buildings shut off.  

The only irritating part is, turning each and every battery on and off and switching each and every Zorium Plant to different modes.  Perhaps there should be a main menu button or something that can change them all, instead of having to individually go over to each building and do it manually.  I like setting up little "banks" of solar panels and batteries in double rows, surrounded by walkway to ensure electrical flow to the colony.  Still, it's irritating to have to go back to them when I'm in the middle of building something else in another part of the colony.  Can you do something about this?

I agree with all of this. 
At the beginning of the game it may seem a apart of the game play to keep controlling/switching all those batteries.. but later on it is just annoying!
Maybe introduce an expensive Power Management Center that does all the winter switching automatically at some point of the game?

We're definitely doing another pass on energy batteries in early 2017.  Stay tuned!

Thank you both for answering.  I'll definitely stay tuned.