5 Things to Know Before Buying Battery Energy Storage Solution

As the energy landscape changes, more Australians are looking into new, innovative ways to save on their power bills and reduce their reliance on the grid. And now, with Ausgrid's looming 'Sun Tax' approaching as of July, , we're noticing more urgency as more households and businesses look into their solar battery storage options.

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While the benefits of solar batteries are clear, making the right choice can be overwhelming. Here are five essential things you should know before buying a solar battery to ensure you make an informed decision that best suits your needs.

Balance your need for capacity and power rating based on your energy usage patterns.

Understand Your Energy Needs

Before purchasing a solar battery, it's crucial to understand your household's energy consumption. Assess your daily energy usage patterns, identify peak usage times, and calculate the total amount of energy you need to store. This will help you choose a battery with the appropriate capacity.

Pro Tip: Check your past electricity bills to determine your average daily and monthly consumption. This will give you a clearer picture of your energy needs.

Battery Capacity and Power Rating

When choosing a solar battery, two key specifications to consider are capacity and power rating.

Capacity

Capacity, measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh), indicates the total amount of energy the battery can store. A higher capacity means more stored energy, ideal for households with higher energy needs.

Power Rating 

Power rating refers to the amount of energy the battery can deliver at once. A higher power rating allows more appliances to run simultaneously.

Pro Tip: Balance your need for capacity and power rating based on your energy usage patterns. A high-capacity battery with a lower power rating might be sufficient for storing energy for later use, while a high power rating is crucial for running multiple appliances simultaneously.

Look for batteries with a high cycle rating and a comprehensive warranty.

Battery Lifespan and Warranty

Solar batteries degrade over time, meaning their storage capacity decreases with use. A battery's lifespan is typically measured in cycles, with one cycle being a full charge and discharge.

Pro Tip: Look for batteries with a high cycle rating and a comprehensive warranty. Most reputable manufacturers offer warranties ranging from 5 to 15 years, guaranteeing a certain percentage of capacity over the warranty period. Investing in a battery with a longer lifespan and better warranty can save you money in the long run.

Cost and Financial Incentives

The initial cost of a solar battery can be significant, but it's important to consider the long-term financial benefits. A solar battery can reduce your reliance on the grid, lower electricity bills, and increase energy independence.

Research available financial incentives, rebates, and subsidies in your area. Many governments offer programs to offset the initial cost of solar batteries, making them more affordable. Additionally, consider the return on investment (ROI) by calculating potential savings on your electricity bills over the battery's lifespan.

Integration with Your Existing Solar System

Not all solar batteries are compatible with every solar system. Ensure your chosen battery integrates seamlessly with your existing solar panels and inverter. This compatibility is crucial for optimal performance and efficiency.

Consult a solar energy expert to help you decide on your solar needs when in doubt. They can provide recommendations and help you choose a battery that works well with your setup and achieves your energy requirements.

A solar battery is a significant investment that can offer substantial benefits, including increased energy independence, reduced electricity bills, and enhanced sustainability.

By understanding your energy needs, considering capacity and power rating, evaluating lifespan and warranty, factoring in costs and incentives, and ensuring system compatibility, you can make a well-informed decision that will serve you for years.

If you're ready to explore your options and find the perfect solar battery for your home, contact our team of experts today. We're here to help you every step of the way toward a more sustainable and energy-efficient future.

A home battery can keep your home running during power outages, or provide a more sustainable energy option when paired with solar panels, but finding the right one can be tricky. Buying a home battery isn't like shopping for a refrigerator, oven or washer and dryer set. Home batteries are a mix of complex hardware and software that becomes directly wired into your home's main electrical system. They aren't appliances you can just plug in. Plus, they can be a large investment, so you certainly want to do your research.

You can't just visit your local hardware store and compare all your options on the show floor. Instead, you'll need to contact local installers in your area and have them provide a quote for your home. And if you're one of the 78% of Americans stressed out about high electricity bills, who has installed a a solar panel system, you'll need to find an installer who's qualified to handle both.

Are you interested in learning more about Battery Energy Storage Solution? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!

A reputable installer will walk you through everything you need to know about your home battery system, but it doesn't hurt to brush up on some key specs and terminology before speaking with a professional. Not only will it make the conversation easier to digest, but knowing the vocabulary can also help you to better compare your options.

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Home batteries are an expensive home upgrade and there are many factors that go into what makes a home battery a "good battery." And the truth is, while there's certainly a most popular battery (the Tesla Powerwall), there's not even truly a "best battery," as the best battery is the battery that best suits your energy needs and budget. However, there are still some fundamentals to know about what makes a good home battery. After more than a year of covering home batteries, I've got a few of these basics nailed down. These are some of my home battery must-knows to help you sort through your options.

Energy storage capacity

If you only know one thing about your home battery, please at least know its energy storage capacity. It's the amount of energy the battery is able to store, typically measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh). You can usually find a battery's capacity rating at the top of its spec sheet and probably in its marketing materials too. The higher the number, the more energy it can stash away.

But just because a battery has a high capacity rating doesn't always mean it's your best option. What you should really concern yourself with is finding the right size battery for your household's energy needs. If you have a small house with few power-hungry appliances, you probably don't need a giant 30 kWh battery. And if you have a large house, a small 5 kWh battery probably isn't going to keep your home up and running for very long during an outage. Your installer should be able to walk you through the recommended energy storage capacity for your home.

Another thing to note is that there are two types of capacity ratings to look for on a home battery's spec sheet: maximum (or rated) capacity and usable capacity. Maximum capacity is the total amount of energy the battery is able to store. Usable capacity is the amount of energy that's available for you to use and is the more important number of the two to pay attention to.

And while not having access to all of your battery's capacity sounds bad, it's actually for the benefit of your battery's health and lifespan in most cases. One of the main reasons manufacturers will block off capacity is so that the battery never fully drains to zero. Letting your battery reach zero isn't good for its long-term health. Sectioning off some of the capacity ensures your battery will never actually reach zero.

Power rating

Another important spec to pay attention to is a battery's power rating, which is the amount of power your battery is able to handle, typically measured in kilowatts (kW). It's what determines how much of your home you're able to provide backup power to at any given moment. Think of it as your battery's capacity for how many circuits you can supply backup power to. The higher the number, the more of your home you'll be able to back up. These numbers are often dependent on the capabilities of the inverter, which converts the DC electricity stored in your battery into AC electricity that your appliances can use.

Home batteries come with two types of power ratings: Maximum rated (or peak) power and rated continuous power. Peak power is used to describe how the maximum amount of power the battery system is able to handle for a short time and is usually double the system's continuous power rating. But don't get too excited. That peak power only lasts for under a minute at a time and is mainly used to kick start power-hungry appliances, like your HVAC system.

What you really want to pay attention to is the battery's continuous power rating. This will tell you how much of your home your battery will be able to supply power to at all times. Expect this number to be quite a bit lower than the maximum rating. The good news is that home battery and inverter technology have evolved quite a bit within a short period of time. Most of the newer home batteries I've seen on today's market come with at least 9 kW of continuous power versus the average 5 kW of continuous power that most older battery models have.

The Tesla Powerwall, the most popular home battery, had a major power upgrade between product generations. The Powerwall 3 comes with an 11.5 kW continuous power rating, more than doubling the continuous rated power of the Powerwall 2 (5 kW).

Lifespan and warranty

Every home battery comes with a warranty, but not all of them are as great as they sound. There are three main components of your battery's warranty: years, cycles/throughput and some sort of capacity guarantee. Out of all three, the cycle/throughput clause is the most important. Here's a quick breakdown of what all this means:

Years: This is the amount of time your warranty is good for. Most battery warranties last for 10 years. Some batteries will come with a 12 or even a 15-year warranty, but those aren't as common. Don't get too excited. There are all sorts of clauses and exceptions inside the fine print that can end your warranty much earlier. Using your battery more than what the manufacturer listed on the warranty and performing maintenance on the system without a certified installer present are just a few examples.

Cycles: Cycles (and throughput) are the most important things to look for in your warranty. Every time you drain and recharge your battery, it completes a cycle. Manufacturers will warrant your battery for a designated amount of cycles, which is essentially its estimated lifespan. In most cases, once your battery surpasses its warranted cycle count, your warranty will expire, even if you haven't hit the 10-year mark. The higher the cycle count, the longer its estimated lifespan. The average battery warranty will be good for somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 cycles, but there are batteries out there that will last much longer.

Throughput: Just like cycles, your battery's warranted energy throughput is another way the manufacturer estimates battery lifespan. The listed throughput on the warranty is the total amount of energy the manufacturer expects the battery to deliver during its lifetime, measured in megawatt hours (MWh). Once your battery delivers the listed throughput, your warranty expires.

Capacity guarantee: Your battery's total capacity will depreciate over time. To help compensate for this degradation, most warranties will include some sort of end-of-warranty capacity guarantee. This is essentially the manufacturer's promise that your battery's original total capacity won't depreciate past a certain amount by the time your warranty expires. Most home batteries come with a 70% capacity guarantee, but there are others that might guarantee up to 80% or higher.

Modularity 

Many battery manufacturers have adopted modular designs for their newer home battery systems. Think of these modules as building blocks. Instead of one giant battery, a modular battery system is a bunch of smaller batteries connected together to share total capacity. If you combined three 5-kWh battery modules together, you'd get a total energy storage capacity of 15 kWh.

The biggest advantage modular systems bring to the table is that they offer customizable and expandable energy storage. Maybe you don't need a giant 15 kWh battery, or maybe there isn't enough room in your budget for that large of a battery at this time. With a modular system, you're able to start small and upgrade your energy storage capacity as your energy needs evolve. You won't need to buy another giant battery. However, if you reach the maximum allowed capacity on one system, you'll have to buy another.

Manufacturers and installers like modular systems because they tend to be easier to install. It's a lot easier to carry in several smaller batteries than it is to lug around a single giant 300-pound battery. Modular systems also tend to be easier to repair. If something goes wrong with the battery in a non-modular system, the system might shut down and the whole thing might need to be replaced. Things get a bit easier with a modular system. If something goes wrong with a battery module, it's not going to shut down the entire system. In most cases, the installer will just need to replace the broken module versus the entire system.

How the battery is priced

This is where things get a bit tricky. Home batteries are a site-dependent purchase, meaning the all-in costs will look a bit different depending on where the system is installed. Every home is different, so a home battery estimate for your house is going to look a bit different than one for your neighbor's house.

The good news is the cost of home batteries has gone down within the past few years. The bad news is that they're still extremely expensive. There are all sorts of costs associated with home batteries: the battery itself, additional components, installation and taxes. The most expensive thing by far is the battery itself, often costing $10,000 or more. The rest of the costs are likely going to fall somewhere between $1,500 and $5,000, or more.

To get the most accurate pricing estimate, you'll need to speak with an installer. However, you can get a sort of ballpark estimate on your own by working out the battery's cost per kWh. Most home batteries on today's market typically cost between $1,000 and $2,000 per kWh of energy storage. The Tesla Powerwall, for example, is currently selling for around $1,000 per kWh, according to a report from EnergySage. And since the Tesla Powerwall is a 13.5 kWh battery, you're looking at about $13,500 for the cost of the battery itself. The additional system costs and installation are likely going to cost additional thousands.

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