Due to the advancements of recent government rebates and many energy-saving projects, adapting to the renewable energy lifestyle is becoming the new normal. In that train of thought comes the idea of getting solar batteries. Solar batteries are the single most awesome addition to your rooftop solar that can double the benefits of having solar overnight!
Now that I have made it clear that getting solar batteries is something you should be considering, there are other attributes of a battery that you should know. Not all solar batteries will serve you equally, and even getting solar batteries now will not make sense for every household. So, before making the commitment getting to know about them should be your no.1 priority.
How Solar Batteries Work
When the sunlight hits the silicone-made solar panels, they start making electricity from direct sunlight and pass that through a solar inverter to transform the generated electricity into a usable form. Strictly technically speaking, there is no true end or pause of the electricity generation of PV panels until they hit their expiry date, which is like 25 years and 30 for some brands.
Without solar batteries, the additional electricity generated by the panels will be exported to the grid, against which you will get Feed-in-tariff. Fit rates are generally not very charming. In that case, solar batteries are added to the solar system. They store that surplus of power for you to use when the peak demand hours charge a lot to import power from the grid. Saves you a lot of money in comparison to what you will make through Fit.
Getting batteries also aligns with the government’s recently developed Peak Demand Reduction Scheme (PDRS), to be inaugurated on 1st November. PDRS focuses on reducing energy usage at the peak hours of the day by incentivizing the installation of efficient gadgets and more. You can do your part by using energy-efficient gadgets and relying on battery units as opposed to the utility grid for a change. This change saves you money and saves mother nature in the long run, too; it’s a win-win situation for everyone.
How Long Do Solar Batteries Last
After purchase, a high-quality solar battery system should provide you with support for the next 15 years. However, there are batteries on the market that have an 8-to-10-year lifespan but are less expensive. To be honest, there is no reason to settle if you are considering investing in solar batteries in the first place. Because it is an investment, if you combine it with a high-quality solar system, clearly, it can give you free energy for as long as it lasts.
There are also many types of solar batteries which serve you at different capacities and run for a different number of years. The most popular types of solar batteries are lithium-ion batteries and led acid batteries.
Lithium-Ion Battery
lithium-ion battery technology is preferred by battery companies because of its greater DoD (Depth of Discharge), dependability, capacity to store more energy for a longer period of time, and smaller size. However, lithium-ion batteries are more costly than lead-acid batteries owing to their advantages.
Lead-Acid Battery
Since they have been available for so long, lead-acid batteries—which employ the same technology as the majority of automobile batteries—have been extensively used as in-home energy storage units for off the grid power choices. Although they are still available on the market at reasonable costs, their popularity is dwindling because of their poor DoD and short lifetime.
Solar Battery Cost- Would This Break My Bank?
Each kWh of solar battery storage used to cost between $3000 and $3600 for the battery alone, without including installation fees. For each kWh of solar battery storage, you may currently expect to pay between $1200 and $1400. Prices have dropped by almost 52%, and things can only get better from here.
Does this mean solar batteries are now affordable? Not really, but the benefits of having a battery backup system more than outweigh the expense.
However, just like any other category, there are also luxury brands of solar batteries. But in this aspect, these brands tend to provide and outdo the competitors in many cases which come, you guessed it, at a price. For example, Tesla batteries. Tesla’s solar battery cost can easily defeat others in the category in terms of being expensive.
Additionally, there are several key factors to consider to make when purchasing solar batteries, including the battery’s kind, compatibility with your solar panel system, brand, and installation company.
Most of them will have an impact on the price range.
