In this blog we will review Growatt batteries and inverters, taking into account our years of experience installing them as solar PV professionals, and what our customers have to say!
Why Choose Growatt
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Established company
Growatt is a global distributor and leader in smart energy solutions. Founded in 2011, Growatt have over 43 representative offices worldwide.
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Award-winning Products
As a globally recognised brand, Growatt has received numerous awards. Including: Global Number 1 Residential Inverter Supplier and Global Top 3 PV Inverter Supplier. Therefore, when you choose a Growatt system you can be assured you are installing the best available on the market.
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Flexible Options
Growatt offers a flexible range of both off-grid and domestic energy storage solutions and inverters. These solutions are perfect for homeowners looking to maximise their self-consumption, provide grid support and emergency power supply in the event of grid failure. Growatt provides both hybrid storage solutions and AC-coupled batteries that can be retrofitted onto existing solar panel systems, with high discharge rates available. These flexible options mean that there is a Growatt solution to meet all energy requirements.
Are Growatt Batteries any Good?
If you are wondering if Growatt batteries are any good, EUPD can confirm that they are a Top Brand, to say the least. In 2022, Growatt’s storage range was given six ‘Top Brand PV Storage’ seals, in multiple key solar storage markets, including the UK, Italy, Australia, Scandinavia, Czech Republic and Brazil. This means that in terms of reliability, and brand satisfaction Growatt was a top supplier in these countries and regions.
Here at Deege Solar, we install 3 Growatt batteries: the Growatt GBLI6532, the Growatt Ark AX Battery and the GBLI3331. All Growatt batteries come with a 10-year warranty and can be extended at any time.
Are Growatt inverters any Good?
As the inverter is the real brain behind any solar panel system, the battery is only as good as the inverter operating it. So how good are Growatt inverters? When it comes to inverters, Growatt according to IHS Markit (now part of S&P Global), is the No.1 residential inverter supplier globally. To date, Growatt inverters have been installed in over 150 countries and regions, with approximately 1.4 million end users connected to their cloud platform.
The company has a vast variety of high-quality reliable product, and its list of awards speak for itself. The Growatt product range meets grid regulations for various markets. Its single-phase inverters have a power capacity ranging from 750W to 11.4kW and their three-phase inverters from 3kW to 15kW. With an IP65 rating and fantastic prices, it’s no wonder why Growatt inverters are so popular.
International market research company EUPD Research has awarded Growatt 19 ‘Top Brand PV Inverter’ seals. This reflects Growatt inverter’s performance, market penetration and customer satisfaction across global solar markets. With over a decade of experience, there are no signs of Growatt slowing down. Their Research and development team are among the best, bringing new regular upgrades and innovations in energy efficiency, functional, safety and intelligent solutions for future generations of inverters.
What our Customers Think about Growatt
We took to social media to ask our existing customers who have a Growatt Solar PV System installed for their honest review of Growatt. Here’s what they had to say:
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Very good and well-integrated hardware. Look good too! The app is very comprehensive and useful also, BUT loading it from servers has been pretty abysmal during the past month or so, and has needed several attempts to fire up the whole picture.
David Stagg
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Growatt system has been working well for me the past year. If you want ideas for improvement I would suggest: 1) web portal schedules 4-6 always defaults to be on after I turned them off and it causes conflicts. Improve or get rid 2) smart integration with agile (luxury really) 3) set charge-discharge patterns that can be switched easily- like winter charging-discharging and summer charging-discharging. 4) low battery soc warning, in case we forgot to switch the discharge off. 5) must we have an ever-changing password for settings that everyone knows anyway? 6) perhaps a charge/ discharge boost button? Despite the above suggestions, the app pretty much does it all with minimal input.
Joseph Tang
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Very happy with it and the installation (by Deege Solar) is exceptionally neat. An app to enable the charge and discharge easily would be the only thing I would expect most would benefit from, particularly to take advantage of granular time-of-use pricing.
Gary Swandells
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My Growatt SPH3600 / 3.3kWh batteries were installed in Sept 22 & have worked perfectly. I have been able to charge my batteries each night, on my Octopus Go tariff, and run off the battery all day without issue. My average unit cost for electricity each month has been around 8.5p kWh
The only downside with the Growatt setup is the ShinePhone app and the Growatt servers. At best it only provides updates every 5 minutes, but the app is constantly having network issues and is generally difficult to use for monitoring or admin.
Growatt does not provide an end-user API, so integration with Home Assistant etc is not easy. Overall, still very happy with my Growatt setup.
Steven Harrop
What our customer would like to see Growatt do better
Overall, Growatt’s hardware has been incredibly praised, however, it’s the software side of things that appears to let down the solar brand. Whilst the shinephone app has been praised for having a good interface, the solar monitoring platform could provide better automation and ease of use. For example:
- Currently, to schedule the battery to export to and charge from the Grid you have to have access to the “installer” password-protected area. Currently, the password changes every day, and whilst the password is now public knowledge, it would be preferred if this was more of a user-facing experience.
- Users would like to have more control over setting priority within their system. By allowing a simple API key this could be done easily within the app. For example, Grid First, Load First, and Batt First. This would also be very handy if you have other devices such as an EV charger or Immersion diverter connection to your system. An end-user API would also make it easier for Growatt to integrate with other systems.
- It would be great to see Growatt integrate seamlessly with Smart Tariffs such as Octopus Agile. Rather than keep having to set the charge/discharge times every day, some batteries such as Givenergy, have the capability to detect when the unit price of energy falls and when to automatically charge your battery at this point. These customers have the potential to save more, with minimal input.
- As your energy usage in the summer and winter changes, it would be useful if you could add “saved loads” into the app. This way you could easily change between charger/discharge patterns.
- The majority of our customers would also like to see more frequent app updates, for more accurate data, and a more reliable server – as currently the server is located partially in France and Germany, and updates are only provided every 5 minutes.
Our Final Review on Growatt
Overall, Growatt offers a variety of high-performing solar batteries and inverters at a fair price. Whilst the shinephone app may be limited in some areas, it is simple to use and has a friendly interface. And unlike hardware, the software can always be updated free of charge. As the company begins to expand their grohome system and integrate new products we can expect its monitoring platform to continue to grow. With the Growatt EV Charger and Immersion Diverter due in the UK later this year.
From an installer’s point of view, we have never had any major technical issues with Growatt. Their after-sale engineers are quick to solve any issues and communicate well with our team to help analyse any potential issues. The Growatt batteries and inverters also come with a 10-year warranty, with no registration required, and their local engineers are always on-hand to replace any faulty hardware. Of course, as Platinum-approved Growatt installers, we are always going to be slightly biased!
But if you are looking to see if Growatt batteries or inverters are any good, the answer is simply yes. Are they right for your energy needs is a different question. If your sole interest is using solar to save money on your energy bill, then Gorwatt is an excellent choice. However, if you are looking for superior data and monitoring capabilities then as suggested in our Growatt review, they might not be the right choice for your solar project.
If you are a UK homeowner, looking to install a Growatt system, call our installation team today on 01322 479369, or by clicking the “Enquire Now” button to discuss your options further.
