Solar Battery Storage Systems

What is Solar Battery Storage?

A battery is now a must-have if you want to maximise the amount of savings you make on your electricity bills from your solar panels. But what is solar battery storage and how does it work?

Solar battery storage is a huge step towards energy independence. It gives you the ability to store up electricity to use in your home when you really need it.

For example, you could store electricity generated via your solar panels during the day to use at night. If you haven’t got a battery, the electricity you don’t use during the day would be wasted – although you could sell it back to the grid. With a battery storage system, the electricity you don’t use will be stored in the battery, ready to use in the evening when your solar panels aren’t generating.

Solar battery storage can allow you to reduce your energy bills by over 30% in addition to any savings you’re making by generating your own electricity using solar panels.

How do solar batteries work?

Solar panels are only able to produce electricity when sunlight is present. This, therefore, creates an obvious issue when it’s dark and you still need energy for your home.

In this case, you would typically need to purchase electricity from the energy providers. However, when you use a battery storage system, you can avoid this problem.

When your solar panels generate electricity that you don’t need to use straight away, a battery will convert this DC electricity into AC power and store it, ready for use later. Essentially, your solar panels charge the battery when you don’t need to use the energy they’re producing.

When it gets dark and your solar panels aren’t generating any electricity, your system will draw the energy you stored earlier from the battery for you to use. That means that there will be times when your home is completely independent, not relying on the National Grid at all – and therefore not paying a penny.

In the summer, you might find that your battery gets fully charged. In that case, you can send any excess electricity your solar panel system is generating back to the grid, and get paid for it via the SEG. When your battery is depleted, you’ll use electricity from the grid.

The benefits of solar battery storage:

• Use more of the electricity you already generate
• Reduce your electricity bills
• Earn money by selling the energy stored in your solar battery back to the grid
• Be independent from the grid and reduce your carbon footprint

What you need for a solar storage system:

• Suitable (roof) space
• PV modules
• PV inverter
• Battery inverter
• Battery
• Energy manager or energy meter
• Switch box for electricity supply even in the event of a grid failure (optional)