Solar PV battery storage systems are an added extra when you install solar panels. That means, many people in Otford might choose not to install solar battery storage at the point of installation. And whilst that decision is fine, some of you will end up with the opposite of 'buyer's regret'
- non-buyer's regret!
A solar battery storage system can drastically improve the efficiency of your solar panels because it puts you in control of how and when you use the energy your solar panel creates. Solar PV panels are wonderfully efficient, but the electricity they produce can be wasted if you don't have somewhere to store the excess solar energy you haven't had the chance to use during daylight hours.
If you want to see truly significant savings on your electric bill, then home batteries for your solar panels are not only an excellent idea, but a necessity.
So, if you want to learn more about solar batteries and how they can be used with your PV solar system to save money on your electricity bills, make you less reliant on your energy supplier and the National Grid, and ensure you're using clean renewable energy sources more often than not - read on!
Below we'll tell you how we here at Panelit Solar can help with our solar PV battery installation.
A solar storage battery isn't strictly necessary for solar PV systems. That is to say, your solar panels will function just fine without battery storage. You will still be able to make use of solar power and the energy generated from your solar panels, but you won't be able to store surplus electricity.
Whilst for some Otford households this is fine - especially if they already use less energy than the average house in the UK anyway and can make do just fine with the energy produced by their existing solar PV systems - for some households in Otford, energy consumption can be higher, and your existing solar panel system, without home battery storage in place, might not be cutting it for you.
So if you're thinking about installing a solar battery in your Otford home as part of your solar panel system, then it might help you to understand how they can benefit you, both immediately, and in the long run.
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Whether you opt for AC battery systems or DC battery storage, a solar PV panel installation will almost always benefit from having a solar battery storage system in place.
But what does it do that's so helpful? And why should you consider adding a battery system to your PV solar installation?
The most obvious use of a battery system is storing electricity. Excess electricity will be produced everyday by a solar panel - excess energy that you just can't use as soon as it's made, even if you have higher than average energy usage in your household.
And without battery storage, all of this spare electricity just goes to waste. But stored energy is energy that is never wasted. In fact, it can help make you energy independent, meaning you're less reliant on your energy supplier for your energy use during the night, for example, when your solar panels aren't producing as much energy for you.
Energy independence is a great thing and it's often the aim of many Otford homeowners who have solar panels installed on their property. Home energy storage is the only real way you can achieve this, and battery systems are a necessary part of that puzzle too.
Related post: How much electricity do solar panels produce?
As a result of all that renewable electricity being kept for later use by your solar panel battery storage system, energy costs will be reduced too.
Think of it this way - electricity produced by your solar panel system is cheap electricity, and electricity produced and sold to you by the electrical grid is much more expensive in comparison. So, a home battery system can reduce what you spend on your energy bills because you will be producing more electricity for yourself. Electricity prices are directly affected by how much energy you produce yourself vs buy from other sources, so the more you can make use of solar power and the renewable energy it produces, the more cost effective your solar panel array becomes.
Stored energy means you'll ultimately pay less energy bills altogether, saving you money, and helping to make a dent in the initial upfront cost of installing a solar array at home to begin with.
We've touched on this already, but energy independence means you're less reliant on the Grid. And whilst that's great from a money saving perspective, it's also great from a practical one, too.
Look at how many times a power outage in your local area has affected you over the course of your life. We imagine it's more than a few, right? Well, when you rely less on the Grid for energy consumption, you put yourself in charge. When things go wrong from time to time locally, you'll be OK.
Of course, that's not to say things NEVER go wrong with solar panels at home, so that's something to keep in mind. But independence is a huge thing for a lot of people and solar electricity stored in solar batteries certainly helps you there.
Related post: How many solar panels do I need?
Not only can you save money by using the electricity you keep in energy storage batteries, but you can actually make money by selling it. That's right! Energy suppliers are interested in buying the excess electricity you create to sell to other people, because it's much cheaper for them to do so, and it also means any excess energy you create that you couldn't possibly use yourself will be making you money on the side.
And it's all thanks to something called the smart export guarantee...
The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) is a scheme started in January 2020 by the UK government to help individuals in Otford who produce surplus energy, thanks to their solar panel array at home, sell their renewable energy back to energy suppliers for a profit.
If you've ever heard of the Feed-In Tariff, SEG essentially is its replacement, as this scheme finished in January 2020 when SEG began. They're both similar ideas, though.
In order to join the SEG scheme, you will need an energy storage system in order to sell the extra electricity your solar panels produce, so a solar battery storage system will be necessary here.
But selling extra energy you won't use anyway is a great way of making extra money from your solar panels, and it will help cover the initial cost of your existing system and any solar batteries you have installed, too.
Talking of solar batteries, they aren't cheap. In fact, their price is often the reason many people in Otford don't opt for solar batteries as part of their initial solar panel array, because it adds a significant cost to an already expensive installation.
But before we talk about how much a solar battery installation might cost you, let's look at why they're so expensive to begin with.
First off, the chemical materials that make up a solar battery aren't cheap. That is to say, they cost a lot to make, so they cost a lot to buy. Think of it like the battery in an electric car. At the moment, in 2023, an electric vehicle costs quite a lot more than a petrol or diesel car, and that's because it isn't cheap to make an electric vehicle. But, they're still cheaper in 2o23 than they were 5 years ago, and they'll be even cheaper 5 years from now. Why? Because as demand for them increases, the cost to make them reduces as competition in the market helps bring prices down.
Hopefully, the same thing will happen with solar batteries in the not-too-distant future.
There are two main types of solar battery - lithium ion and lead acid - and whilst both aren't cheap, lithium ion is certainly the more expensive of the two options.
But that doesn't mean a lithium ion solar battery should be avoided... In fact, lithium ion batteries are far more efficient than lead acid ones, and they are often favoured by property owners looking to have home batteries installed for their solar panels.
Another thing that affects the cost is the storage capacity of the batteries themselves. The more renewable energy you want to store, the more it'll cost you, and different batteries are capable of different amounts of home energy storage.
Again, a lithium ion battery will perform better here, but there are different manufacturers that can squeeze more energy storage out of their batteries, too, meaning shopping around for the best storage capacity for you and your household needs is a good idea.
With that said, the bigger your battery storage, the more money it'll cost you.
Lifespan is another huge thing that will either help you save money or make you spend more. Different batteries come with different warranties and expected lifespans, and the longer you want your battery to last, the more money it will cost again (but it will also mean you have to replace it less often, so it might work out cheaper in the long run, even if the upfront cost is more).
The very best batteries on the market can last for around 15 years, or so, with the worst performing (but significantly cheaper) batteries only lasting for 5 years before needing to be replaced.
When you work with Panelit Solar, we place a real emphasis on giving you all the information you need to make an informed decision, and our team of experts will talk you through the latest battery technology advancements so you can decide for yourself which battery is best for your household needs - and your budget.
Believe it or not, storage capacity isn't the be all and end all of solar batteries. In fact, the thing you really want to concentrate on is something known as usable capacity - and yes, it's different to how much energy your battery can store.
Here, the focus is on how much it can store and use in practice, NOT in theory. So, a battery could have a storage capacity of 6.5 kWh, but its usable capacity could actually sit more at 80%, so more like 5.2 kWh.
Usable capacity is affected by things like charging and discharging, where some of the energy it is storing is actually used to ensure it is performing at its best.
There are some batteries with a usable capacity of 100%, but as you might expect, they'll be the most expensive options on the market for your solar panel array.
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Now that you know more about how the four main factors above actually affect the price of solar panel batteries, we hope you'll understand why there is such a range of prices when talking about home battery systems.
On average, in Otford, a solar battery installation will cost between £1,200 and £6,000.
And that's largely due to differences in:
The best performing batteries are closer to the £6,000 mark, and the worst performing will sit closer to £1,200.
Related post: How much do storage batteries cost?
To help illustrate the difference, let's look at two extreme cases below.
Please note: The following examples are for reference only. Prices and performance may vary when researching battery options of your own.
To start, let's look at an expensive example so you can understand why it becomes so expensive. Let's imagine you're a 7 person family living in a 5 bedroom house in Otford - that's going to place a significant electrical load on your property, and that means you'll have A LOT of energy use throughout the day and night. So, you're going to need a pretty powerful home battery to support your solar panels to help reduce your carbon footprint. You'll also need it to be efficient, and have a long lifespan to prevent regular replacements.
Let's imagine then, you want a lithium ion battery with a storage of 13.5 kWh, 100% usable capacity for maximum efficiency, and a lifespan of 15 years. All of those things combined will mean you spend a lot of money up front - £6,000 is likely here.
But let's now imagine a more cost effective example for a different household. Let's say you're a two person family living in a one bedroom house in Otford. Your electricity use will be significantly less than the average UK household, and maybe you don't want your solar panels to cover ALL of your energy usage - just the majority. The performance of your battery might not be as important here, nor will a longer lifespan or maximum efficiency.
Let's say that you settle on a lead acid battery with a storage of 3.5 kWh, 80% usable capacity, and a lifespan of around 5 years. You could save significant money here, and only spend around £1,500.
Of course, these aren't the only batteries on the market, and there are plenty that fall in the middle of that range to suit any budget and any household's energy needs. But the examples above highlight how a few changes to the battery can change the cost significantly.
How often you replace your battery will depend on its lifespan. Most batteries will have a lifespan of between 5 and 15 years.
Considering solar panels last for 25 years, and some PV panels can last up to 40, you will need to replace your battery at some point.
Check with your battery installer about the expected lifespan of your battery before you get it installed, and ALWAYS ask about the warranty period.
So, let's say you're happy to go ahead and install a new battery as part of your solar panel array - how would that work if you decide to work with us here at Panelit Solar?
The very first thing we do is carry out an initial consultation, followed by a suitability check. Here, we're looking to learn a few things:
During our discussions, we'll be able to answer any questions you have about the latest technologies and advancements in solar batteries to keep you informed about the options that are open to you.
This way, you'll be able to select the perfect solar battery for your PV solar panel array and we can make sure we have it ready for installation day.
On the day, we'll arrive, hook your new battery up to your current solar panel system, and then be out of your hair before you know it.
Installing a solar battery into an already established solar panel array will take only a matter of hours in most cases. If you're fitting a new solar panel PV system as well as your battery, you can expect it to last a day or two.
Find out more about our solar panel PV installation services on our services page.
Technically, it is possible to install a solar battery yourself - but we would never recommend it.
Just like with solar panel installation, the work is often complex and requires a great deal of experience and know-how to carry it out successfully to ensure your battery is performing as it should. We would always recommend calling in the pros.
Absolutely! Battery storage systems allow you to be more independent, use more of the energy your solar panels make, and even make a little extra money on the side through the smart export guarantee scheme.
If you have the money to invest in your solar panels today, then a battery is a smart choice. It might have a high initial upfront cost, but you'll more than make your money back over the years. It really is a smart decision to make.
And if you want to make that smart decision today, you know what to do. Contact our Otford team at Panelit Solar so we can discuss your options and get the ball moving. We can't wait to work with you!
Lead-acid, lithium-ion, sodium-based, and flow batteries are the most common types of solar PV batteries. The optimal type for your needs is determined by criteria such as your budget, maintenance preferences, available space, and performance requirements.
Consider your daily energy usage, the hours of backup power required, and the output of your solar panel system when selecting the proper size and capacity for your solar PV battery system. For a more personalised assessment, speak with a solar installation professional.
Yes, a solar PV battery may usually be added to an existing solar panel system without requiring major adjustments. Depending on your current system, you may need to upgrade your inverter or add a battery-compatible inverter.
While a solar PV battery system can reduce your dependency on the grid greatly, obtaining total energy independence is dependent on factors such as your location, energy usage patterns, and the size of your solar panel and battery systems.
