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Is Solar Battery Storage the Right Investment Now?

Energy storage technology is around for a quite long time. But solar battery storage which is used in home solar systems is relatively new to the market. With Australia’s green revolution is going strong, more people are started install solar panel systems to power their homes. These systems can power an entire home with clean energy from the sun. But that is not the case when the sun is not shining. That is where you need battery storage to save the excess energy generated during the day and held in reserve for the night.

The cost of these battery storages is confusing homeowners whether to install them or not. This blog is going to analyze various factors depending on the battery and help you find out solar battery storage the right investment for your home.

What Is Solar Battery Storage?

Battery storage, as the name suggests, is a way to store energy to use later. Even if the best solar panels in the world can’t generate electricity in dark. This is the main reason behind people choose to add solar battery storage into their solar energy system.

During day time, while the sun shines, the solar panels can generate energy using the sunlight. But most houses don’t use all the electricity generated during the daytime. This means a major portion of the energy will get wasted if you don’t install a battery.

There are plenty of battery storage options are available out there. Battery storage can save enough energy to power a standard home through an evening. Obviously, the cost will be a little higher. But the benefit of having energy storage makes it worth the cost.

As a standard rule, solar battery storage costs almost $1000 per kWh. But this solution makes you self-sufficient and no longer rely on the electricity from the power grid. This helps you save money on utility bills.

What Are the Other Options?

There is mainly one alternative solution for those who don’t want solar battery storage and still want electricity after sunset, Namely on-grid solar.

On-Grid Solar

This power system is a cost-effective solution for households. By using this system, people can access solar energy during the day and get their energy from the power grid at night. If you choose to go for on-grid solar, your home will be powered by solar energy during the sun is shining. Since the home is connected to the electricity grid, you can get electricity during nighttime and cloudy days when less sunlight is available.

Only the energy will be drawn from the grid when your solar PV panels stop producing energy for the day. You will get the utility bill only for the electricity you used from the main power grid, but you are still saving a lot of money during the day by using solar energy. Depending on the place you live, there may be other benefits too. If your residential solar system produces more energy than the usage, the excess energy can be sold back to the main grid.

What Does Solar Battery Storage Cost?

As told earlier, the standard cost of battery storage I around $1000 per kWh. This is not an accurate cost and may vary depending on the supplier. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government introduced a Household battery storage program that provides discounts for ACT households and businesses to install a battery storage unit connected to a new or existing solar PV system. Read more about this solar battery storage discount.

The factors like energy consumption patterns and local energy costs are needed to be considered before deciding whether you need a battery or not. They can also be used to decide the capacity of the battery storage required for your house. Because not all houses require a higher capacity battery storage. If the usage is lesser, you can get small battery storage. But installing a storage system with higher capacity can save you from spending additional money in the future due to an increase in energy consumption.

Check Your Energy Consumption Patterns

Before installing the solar battery storage, you need to identify the daily energy consumption. For example, if most of your energy consumption occurs during the daytime and very little after the evening then spending money on solar battery storage may be unnecessary. But in most of the households, it’s quite the opposite. Power usage will be higher in the evening. Because the usage of electronic devices, lights, etc., will create an increase in energy consumption at night.

So, check your energy consumption and find out how you are spending the electricity after daylight hours. If the usage is significant, then you can certainly benefit from solar battery storage installation.

This analysis also helps to decide the battery capacity required to cover your energy consumption. For a light user, a smaller, less expensive battery will be sufficient. You can opt to go for a bigger battery if the consumption is higher.

Consider Your Local Energy Prices

The next criteria for deciding whether to have battery storage or not is the local energy costs. There are various kinds of tariffs in different states and different energy providers. The electricity costs can vary based on the time of usage too. Generally, the peak time hours, electricity from the grid costs more. Check whether the nighttime utility costs in your region are very expensive.

Analyze the usage at different times and compare that with the local energy prices. If the cost seems lesser, you can go with an on-grid solar system. If the price is higher, then installing battery storage is the ideal solution.

Final Verdict

A solar power system can save you a lot of money on utility costs. Spending extra money on solar battery storage is a matter of personal preference. If the electricity consumption and costs are lesser, then you can have an on-grid system. But if you want to be completely independent of the main power grid, you need an alternate power source. Since solar panels can’t generate power after sunset, you need to store energy for the nighttime. For those people, investing in solar battery storage is the right investment.

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