Battery Storage- What You Need to Know

Battery storage allows you to make the most of the electricity you create from your solar panels, or sometimes wind turbines.  Renewable energy sources don’t always generate the most electricity when you want it, meaning it goes back to the grid and you have to import electricity at night.  A battery means you can save your energy for later and you can charge the batteries using excess electricity generated from solar panels.

Usually, batteries are used alongside solar panels, but can also be used with an energy tariff that offers cheaper electricity at off-peak times.

Pros

• Helps you use more of the electricity you generate.

• Cuts your electricity bill.

• Some energy tariffs pay you for allowing your battery to be used to store excess grid electricity.

• Could enable you to take advantage of cheap-rate electricity, for example from a smart time-of-use tariff.

• VAT exempt

Cons

• Expensive

• Potentially long paybacks

• If retrofitted to existing solar PV, you may need a new inverter.

If you have solar PV panels, or are planning to install them, then using home batteries to store electricity you’ve generated will help you to maximise the amount of renewable energy you use. 

Storing your solar energy will reduce how much electricity you use from the grid, cutting energy bills.   If you’re at home during the day and already use a large proportion of the electricity you generate through solar panels, or divert surplus electricity to heat a hot water cylinder then battery storage might not work for you.

With grid electricity currently very expensive and expected to stay that way, payback times might be shorter than you think.

If you’re using the battery alongside solar panels, ideally you want one that will cover your evening and night-time electricity use.

Check how much your solar panels can generate - there's no point buying a battery that's bigger than they can fill, or having batteries with a larger capacity than you will use.

Installing a home-energy storage system is a long-term investment to make the most of your solar-generated energy and help cut your energy bills, paybacks will need to be calculated on a case by case basis to establish whether they are right for you.  Often people install them as much for environmental reasons as cost as it means that more of your electricity is carbon zero.

If you're looking to install solar panels and a solar battery, new SEG Tariffs mean that energy firms will pay you for any excess renewable electricity you have generated and export to the grid. All suppliers with more than 150,000 customers must offer them.