Solar power storage, how does it work?
When you consider moving to solar power and especially solar power storage with batteries, it can be a minefield of data and technical information that is often confusing.
It’s important to do your research so you fully understand how the technology works and what will be the best option for your families needs. The better you understand the process, the more effectively you’ll be able to communicate with your solar provider.
We all know that adding solar panel to your home will convert the suns energy into electricity. This is great, but what if your solar panels produce more than your home needs? This surplus energy is exported to the electrical grid system. Essentially you are giving the suns energy away.
By adding storage, you’ll have somewhere to put this surplus energy so you can use it when needed (often at night or in rainy weather).
Below are two storage options which are worth considering.
Option 1
Maximise your use of solar energy.
This option requires a device installed in your main switchboard to keep check of the energy flow to and from your home. The inverter then decides if there is enough surplus energy being produced to store in your batteries. Once the batteries are fully charged, the surplus energy is then exported to the grid or not produced at all.
Option 2
Take advantage of the price of electricity
The inverter and batteries are placed in between the connection to the grid and the circuits that supply power to the home. The inverter then makes a decision about what is the cheapest source of electricity. Typically this would be to use solar power first, used stored energy at night and if there are cheap off-peak grid tariffs – partially charge the batteries at off-peak time. Some systems even have weather forecasting and can decide the night before whether to charge batteries from cheap night rate power or to charge from the sun the following day.
If you live in NSW and have solar, don’t suffer meter bill shock
If you live in NSW and have solar, don’t suffer meter bill shock.
If you are one of the 150,000 households in NSW enjoying a 60c/kWh gross feed-in-tariff, that is all about to change come 31 December 2016.
Don’t sit back and think about it, you need to act now, install batteries, upgrade your meter and get ahead of the pack otherwise you’ll be on a waiting list to get an electrician who is actually qualified to change over your meter.
Why is this so urgent you ask?
Under the current NSW rules, there are not enough qualified electricians to do the job. It is estimated that if all of those qualified did these new meter installations and nothing else for a year, they could still only change 50,000 meters. This means you’ll be waiting a while and while waiting, you’ll be paying a hefty power bill.
If you are one of the households that cannot get your meter changed in a quick timeframe, then you’ll receive only a meagre feed-in tariff for your entire solar output – say around 6c/kWh – while paying the retailer rate – between 22c/kWh and 30c/kWh – for any electricity consumed in the home.
For a household with 3kW of rooftop solar, the average daily output is around 12kWh.
Under the current NSW solar bonus tariff, you are receiving $7.20 a day for your output. Depending on your electricity usage, you might be receiving a cheque in the mail, rather than a bill, each quarter.
Under the new tariff arrangements, you’ll receive a ‘net tariff’, of around 6c/kWh. If you don’t change meters, you’ll receive 72c a day, rather than $7.20.
Contact us today, we’ll talk you through the available solar battery solutions to make sure they are suitable for your home energy needs.