Solar panel battery storage systems for increased savings
If you have existing solar panels or are thinking of having them installed, a battery storage system can help you to increase your annual energy savings by storing excess energy during the day and using it at night
Get a free quoteBattery Storage – store energy from the sun
Adding battery storage to your new or existing solar PV system can help you to maximise the returns from your system.
By combining solar panels with a battery storage system, your energy bills will be reduced due to your self-consumption rising. This is because it is cheaper to use the free electricity your solar PV system has generated for you, rather than buying your electricity from the grid.
What is self-consumption?
One of the main aims of solar PV panels is to help homeowners become self-sufficient in electricity production and reduce costs from importing energy from the National Grid.
During the daytime you can meet your consumption needs by using your household appliances. This is self-consumption and is “free energy” that you don’t need to pay for. Any excess energy send back to the grid and, if you have a smart meter, you can be paid for this through the Smart Export Guarantee.
However, without a solar PV battery storage system, when it gets dark at night you will be dependent on importing electricity from the grid at the rate set by your electricity supplier.
A solar PV battery storage system solves this issue by storing excess energy for use at times when your solar panels cannot generate free electricity.
Some electricity tariffs allow you to top up your battery at night allowing you to benefit from low cost energy for longer periods of time and some may even allow you to re-sell the imported energy.
In summary, the benefits of installing a solar PV battery storage system are:
- Use more of the electricity generated by your PV system
- Store excess electricity for use when you need it
- Buy less energy from the grid and take control of your energy costs
- Maximise your investment in solar panels. Once your battery is fully charged you can still earn money on any excess by selling it back to the grid though the Smart Export Guarantee.
- Potential to provide emergency power
- Some tariffs allow you to top up your battery at night allowing you to benefit from low cost energy for longer periods of time
Can I use the power in the event of a power cut?
Depending on the system that you choose to install, you may be able to use the battery in the event of a power cut.
Not every battery system can do this however, so we can will chat through the options available to you.
t recommended to be insulated. We would also recommend having double glazed windows and can help you with these and insulation for your home if required.
Get a free quoteWill installing a battery affect my Feed-in Tariff payments?
The following information is from the Energy Saving Trust.
The Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2019, but details about the scheme are still available.
If you currently receive FIT payments for an existing renewable electricity system, and you add an electricity storage system, then your generation payments should be unaffected. Before you go ahead, check with your FIT supplier that the storage installation does not affect your eligibility.
If your export payments are currently ‘deemed’ at 50% of generation, this will not change with the addition of storage, even though actual exports will be reduced. However, if you get a smart meter fitted this will operate as an export meter. All your export payments from then on should be based on actual metered export, and these payments will reduce if you add storage.
https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/storing-energy/
