Solar Batteries or Solar Energy Storage Systems
A battery can certainly help you get the most out of your solar PV system.
For example, if you are using 6,000 kWhrs per annum and you have a 6 kW solar PV system, a battery can help you manage your energy consumption in a cost effective way.
Before you decide to purchase a battery you should determine whether in fact you need one, how much benefit it will be for your circumstances. In short, you should ask an engineer.
A lot of companies have sales people on the road offering standardised systems, or pushing products which may not suit you. We find this time and again with enquiries to our website.
If you do want to get a solar battery for the long-term you don’t have to purchase it at the outset. You can always wait a year or two, to get a fuller understanding of how your solar PV system performs.
To leave your options open, make sure you purchase a hybrid inverter with your solar PV system, which is an inverter capable of operating with a battery. Then you can always purchase a battery energy storage system later when you have a good idea of how your solar PV system is working for your situation.
How to Price your Solar PV Battery
If your situation can benefit from a battery, there are a few things you should bear in mind.
1. Buy a good quality battery. The difference in usable output between a high-efficiency high-cycle battery and a low-efficiency low-cycle battery can be considerable.
Make sure your battery has a high-efficiency rate. A high-efficiency means that for every 1,000 units of electricity you store in a battery you can recover the maximum amount for self-consumption. Cheaper batteries with low efficiency may waste a considerable amount of the energy you are producing.
Also make sure your battery has a high-cycle lifetime, and a good warranty period – 10,000 cycles and 10 years warranty are widely available. Some manufacturers also exceed these numbers.
2. Select the correct size battery for your needs. What do you want a battery for? Do you just want a battery to run your home in the evenings when you get home from work? Do you need your battery to provide a certain number of “days-of-autonomy” for your home/business or even “hours-of-autonomy“. It may be best to ask an engineer to find the correct size battery for you.
3. Use our price guide (€/kWh) to determine how much you want to pay for a solar battery.
Average Price of a Solar Battery
There is a lot of published information on the price of solar batteries, and it’s important to make sure that the pricing information you use has been consistently measured across different products.
In Ireland, you will certainly be paying in the region of €900/kWh to €1,100/kWh when it comes to adding a battery to your solar PV system.
This means that a 5 kWh battery can cost you between €4,500 and €5,500.
Similarly, a 3 kWh battery can cost you between €2,700 and €3,300.
Some recent studies have placed the average cost of a solar energy storage system in Europe at €1,000 /kWh. Naturally, better quality products will cost more.
Characteristics of a Solar Battery
The three most important characteristics of your solar battery are A. Warranty B. Lifetime and C. Efficiency. These numbers affect the long-term payback for your investment, particularly the efficiency and expected lifetime. If the battery you are being offered doesn’t specify the efficiency, or has a low efficiency, then choose something else. Manufacturers who don’t publish these data should not be your first choice of battery supplier.
You can read a previous article on widely available solar battery systems in Ireland.
Feel free to Contact Us if you want a solar PV system with a solar energy storage system optimised for your situation.
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