Take a Closer Look
Battery Storage
Is home energy storage right for me?
For years, many people saw energy storage as a novelty or the preserve of people living off-grid. Now technological developments and the growth of domestic renewable energy mean this an area with big potential.
​
Energy storage works well with the idea of the ‘smart home’. Many smart storage systems allow you to keep track of your energy use online and charge the batteries with low rate electricity from the grid if you’re on a tariff that is cheaper at certain times of day, such as Economy 7.
​
We’re starting to see energy storage playing a role in smart energy management at grid level. In the future, we could see people using their energy storage devices, including hot water cylinders, to store excess electricity, in return for preferential rates.
All interesting stuff – but is now the time to invest in energy storage, and what do you need to consider?
If you have a renewable electricity generation system in your house, such as solar PV, then you will inevitably generate more electricity than you need at times of high supply and low demand, with any surplus exported back into the grid.
​
Unfortunately Smart Export Guarantee payments only pay you a fraction of what your energy company charges you for it. So do you store your energy or not. Its not a simple question to answer, it requires some analysis of your energy needs.
​
If you already have a solar PV system installed, but is relatively small in relation to your needs there may not be excess energy to store, and simply charging it on the night rate may not be justification enough to install a battery.
​
We are happy to help you make that decision.
It's hot stuff
Another renewable option is storing energy as heat and with the major energy demand in homes coming from heating and hot water, it’s a sensible one. The cheapest way to store energy as heat is to expand the use of your hot water cylinder by connecting a renewable system to it. A immersion controller is the most cost effective way to use up surplus energy, especially in the summer when heating the water through electricity generated on your roof will save you have to burn fossil fuels.
​
If you’re looking for something more space-efficient than a thermal store and more high-tech than a diverter, innovations such as the heat battery from Scottish company Sunamp may prove just the job. Its heat battery charges from renewables, whether heat or electricity, and also from the grid. It uses what are known as ‘phase change materials’ to capture and release energy from different sources and provides instant hot water at mains pressure.
​
So when do batteries make financial sense to install?
This is when we store
​
The battery allows you to consume more of your photovoltaic production when your not at home during the day to use it. An average home using 3500kWh per annum can consume an additional 43% of their produced energy by installing a 5kWh Battery.
. When installing a new solar PV system at your premises battery storage can be installed a 0% VAT, retrofitting battery storage is charged at 20% VAT. In our experience for any new installations its always beneficial to install batteries at this point.
​
The easiest way to demonstrate this to you is by calculating your estimated savings with and without batteries. Payback periods generally don't change, as the increased in cost is out weighed by the savings during that period.
​
​
