A solar battery, similar to any kind of battery, simply stores energy. By storing your solar energy within a solar battery, you end up with a supply of green energy to use whenever your home needs it. Which comes extremely handy during the evening and night, when your solar panel system isn’t able to generate as much power. The benefits of home battery storage speak for themselves, but which solar battery to choose becomes a pressing question.
Who Makes Solar Batteries
With big names such as Tesla and Duracell entering the energy game, the list of solar battery suppliers is growing rapidly.
Here at Deege Solar, we install battery storage systems made by Growatt, GivEnergy, Sofar Solar and Solax Energy.
How Do I Know Which Solar Battery is the best?
Depending on which features you wish to prioritise, the best solar battery can differ project to project. Lucky for you, the team here at Deege Solar have put together a list of key features to compare before choosing which solar battery to install.
Battery Capacity - kWh
Battery size, also known as Capacity, is the maximum amount of energy in kilowatt-hours, that a battery can store at a given time. Some solar batteries such as the Growatt 3.3kWh are scalable. This means you can add more energy storage gradually, and increase your battery’s capacity over time. Solar batteries come in a range of capacities, the larger the battery capacity the more expensive the batteries tends to be. In the UK, the average household uses around 8-10 kWh of electricity every day. However, the capacity of storage your project will require all depends on your energy consumption. As a solar battery should never be fully discharged, the “useable capacity” indicates the truthful amount of energy a battery can store.
Lifecycle
A battery’s life cycle indicates the lifespan of a solar battery. Similar to a phone or laptop battery, a solar battery can only be fully recharged and emptied a certain amount of times. Therefore, the larger amount of lifecyles a solar battery is able to perform the better! As the average lifespan of Solar Panels is 15 years, ideally you would want an energy storage system that can match it. Many solar battery manufactures offer warranties that guarantee a certain level of performance after a certain number of cycles.
Depth of Discharge (DoD)
Charging/Discharging Current
A batteries’ charge rate is the rate of time it takes to charge or discharge in Amps. The charge/discharge rate is calculated by dividing the capacity of the battery by the number of hours it takes to charge/discharge.
Smart Grid Trading
Some solar batteries such as Moixa, GivEnergy and Solax, allow for autonomous grid trading. Smart, automatic grid trading, takes the control out of the user’s hand and puts it into the hand of artificial intelligence. Trained specifically to save you money. Batteries that allow for autonomous grid trading take advantage of tariffs such as Octopus Agile or Social Energy. The integrated AI automatically charges your battery from the grid when the cost per unit of energy is low. This not only improves the balance of renewable energy on the National grid network but also reduces your green energy waste. Allowing other connected users to power their home on your clean energy.
Technology
Monitoring
Ac vs DC Battery Systems
There are two types of battery installation systems, known as DC and AC coupling. AC or DC coupling refers to the way solar panels link to a solar battery or energy storage system. The key distinction between an AC-coupled and DC-coupled battery system lies in the journey the electricity takes. A DC battery system is more efficient in converting solar energy, as it connects your PV system directly to the solar panels. Whereas, an AC-coupled system connects your solar panels directly to an inverter. As a result, any electricity stored in a battery system is effectively inverted three times.
Read more about AC and DC coupled batteries.
Powercut supply
Warranty
Just like any household appliance, solar batteries also come with a warranty. The warranty of a solar battery is often an indicator of how long you can expect your home battery to last. Defined by the number of cycles the battery is able to complete. Usually, more expensive batteries include longer warranties, as the battery is more durable.
Solar Battery Comparison
Below our green team have put together a comparison table for some of the battery storage systems available on the market. If you would like to find out more information regarding solar batteries contact our team on 01322 479369.
How Do I Get A Solar Battery Installed?
If you are a UK home owner looking to install the best solar battery, get in touch with our green team. As MCS certified Solar Panel Installers, with over 12 year of experience, when you choose Deege Solar you know you are in safe hands. Call us today on 01322 479369 or click the enquire now button to talk to a solar expert!