Why You Should Pair Solar Panels With Batteries
Solar batteries are a great way to maximise the renewable energy produced by your solar panels. They’re able to store excess energy when it’s not being used so you’re able to utilise it when it’s needed. While it’s an additional expense on top of solar panels, it works out more beneficial.
Most of the energy generated by solar panels is produced in the middle of the day, which is when electricity use is at its lowest. If you don’t have a solar battery, this electricity is sent back to the national grid and you don’t necessarily see the benefit. With solar battery storage, you can capture this electricity and then come to use it when your energy use increases.
A 7kW solar array with 10kWh battery storage could serve 60-80% of your household energy needs for the year. Without a battery, this can be as low as 35-50%. The main issue with solar panels is that the energy must be used or it goes back to the grid straight away. Unless you’re home all day, you won’t be able to utilise the power you’ve generated, which is why having a battery system in place makes sense.
You’re also able to rely less on your electricity provider when you install a solar battery. Free, sustainable energy cuts down on rising electricity costs, and while the Energy Price Guarantee has fixed electricity at 34p/kWh until April 2023, you can pay even less than this by supplementing it with free solar power. By signing up to the Smart Export Guarantee, you will be paid by your energy supplier for any electricity you generate and send back to the grid. Prices are required to always be above £0.00 and the best going rate is from Octopus Energy at 15p/kWh.
Blackouts and power cuts will be a thing of the past, as one of the main advantages to solar batteries is how you will be able to power your home through a power cut. You can take away any stress from a lack of electricity and keep essential appliances running until you get reconnected.
You have the potential to be completely free of the national grid, but this depends on how big your solar array is and how much storage you will need. It mainly depends on how much energy your home needs to run and how much energy you are looking to generate. Batteries providing 13.5 kWh storage capacity can run a heat pump for around 4 hours. Typical batteries can provide power to the Wi-Fi, fridge freezer and some lights for a full 24 hours, and their potential is only improving as technology develops.
Solar batteries will last around 10-15 years, while solar panels themselves can last around 25 years. This means that you will most likely go through a couple of batteries before you need to replace your whole system. Batteries are usable components that degrade over time. The efficiency gradually wears off with every lifecycle they go through, so it’s important that your system is running as efficiently as it needs to.
Take a look at the best solar batteries of the year to see which would suit your needs.