Solar Battery Storage
Solar Battery Storage Systems
If you’re in the commercial or domestic sector and are looking to make the most out of your solar PV panels, our battery storage systems can help you maximise your panel’s capacity. Using stored energy in non-producing conditions (at night or raining), can dramatically reduce your electricity bills and costs, giving you greater energy independence.
Advanced Battery Solutions
Solar Voltaics have selected two of the most advanced battery systems available on the market – Tesla Powerwall 2 and Givenergy. Not only do they have excellent storage capacity and warranties, but they are designed to integrate with smart energy tariffs such as Octopus Agile and Octopus Go. By combining battery storage with one of these ‘time of use’ tariffs you can make dramatic savings in your energy costs.
Accreditations & Partnerships
Solar Battery Systems We Supply
With a number of storage systems on the market, we have selected the Tesla Powerwall 2 and Givenergy as our advanced battery system choices – these systems are renowned for their extensive storage capacity and durable warranties, and are compatible with smart energy plans such as Octopus Agile and Octopus Go.
Tesla Powerwall 2
Powerwall’s lithium ion battery inherits Tesla’s proven automotive battery technology to power your home safely and economically. An integrated inverter reduces external components, which simplifies and lowers installation costs. Powerwall is a completely automated system that requires no maintenance. The Tesla Powerwall 2 AC is a fully integrated AC battery system for residential or light commercial use. Its rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack provides energy storage for solar self-consumption, load shifting and backup power.
- Fully installed from £9,550 + VAT (No VAT if installed with Solar!)
- Large stocks on order.
GivEnergy
Hybrid inverters are ideal when installing solar and battery storage at the same time. The hybrid inverter converts DC power from the solar panels into AC mains power, but also manages when to charge and discharge the battery. Because all this happens in one unit it reduces the overall cost of the system whilst maintaining high efficiencies.
AC Coupled inverters are ideal where a solar PV system is already installed with an existing inverter. The addition of the AC coupled coupled inverter is purely for managing the battery charge and discharge.
- Fully installed from £3,542 + VAT (AC Coupled + 2.6KWh battery) (No VAT if installed with Solar!)
Understanding Solar Battery Storage
Your solar PV system without Battery Storage
The solar PV system on your roof will generate electricity during the day that you can use in your home. Without a means of storing that solar electricity, any surplus energy that you don’t use is ‘exported’ to the local grid. During times when the panels are no longer generating (or not generating enough for your needs), you need to buy electricity back from your electricity supplier.
Solar PV with added Battery Storage – How it Works
‘Energy storage’ lets you store the surplus solar electricity, instead of exporting it. Battery storage lets you use more of your solar PV system’s output (in the jargon, it ‘increases ‘self-consumption’). This reduces the amount of grid electricity you need to buy, saving you money on your electricity bill.
How Solar Storage Can Help
During the day:
- The solar PV system generates solar electricity.
- The solar battery storage system will check if all the generation is being used to power your lights and appliances.
- If you’re not using all the electricity that the solar PV system is generating, then the system will ensure that any surplus energy is used to charge the battery.
- Once the battery is fully charged, if there is still more solar electricity being generated, this will be exported to the grid (or in some systems, will be diverted to other uses e.g. to an immersion heater).
In the evening or at time of low solar weather:
- The solar PV panels have a reduced or zero output.
- The battery system can discharge the stored electricity, providing you with renewable-generated electricity at no additional cost.
- Once the battery is discharged, if you need to use more electricity, you buy it from your electricity supplier.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if I need a battery?
If you have a medium to high consumption of energy, it is likely that a battery alongside your solar will be beneficial. We use our software to calculate how much of the battery you will use with your property’s consumption and can compare what your usage would be with and without a battery. You can then decide which system will work best for you and your energy consumption.
What could a solar battery storage system power?
A fully-charged medium-sized system could store sufficient energy to power during the evening your lights and lower-powered items like your fridge-freezer, TV and laptop. Over four or five hours, all of these together will use at most a few “units” or kiloWatt-hours (kWh), of electricity. However, the battery will quickly run out if you put on high energy use devices like the washing-machine or tumble-dryer: these can consume 2 – 3kWh in a single use. The higher capacity your battery is, the longer you can run your home without buying power from the grid. And in winter, the battery might not receive enough energy from your solar panels to provide for even the lower-powered items for many hours. You can compensate for this though by automatically charging your battery up at night on a cheap off-peak tariff.
Do battery storage systems work in power cuts?
Despite expectations, some storage systems will not provide power during a power-cut. Some solar battery storage systems however do have an ‘off-grid’ functionality, providing a limited amount of power to your home, or to essential equipment (such as your fridge-freezer, lighting etc). But a battery may run out of power before the power cut ends – or have already run out of power if it’s been discharging all evening and the power outage starts late at night or early in the morning. If you require your battery storage system to provide power during power-cuts it is important to talk this through with us from the outset as the system will need to be carefully designed and set-up to your specific requirements.
Where is the battery installed?
Most batteries that we install are rated as IP65, meaning they can be installed outdoors. However they should have a canopy over them to protect them from the elements. They can also be installed inside your property on a wall. They ideally need 300mm clearance around them for ventilation and cooling as well as access for any future maintenance. Dimensions of the batteries can be found on the datasheets.
Why should I think about battery storage?
Adding battery storage to your solar PV system enables you to store any excess solar energy to use in your property at a later date. This means that at night or in low solar weather, the battery can power your property without needing to use the grid. This saves you money on your electricity bills as you will only start buying energy when the battery runs out. Many energy providers now have flexible tariffs where you can use a cheaper night rate tariff to charge your battery too.
What is a solar battery system's lifetime cycle?
A battery’s efficient lifetime depends on the technology and the way the battery is used – significantly on the number of ‘cycles’ (complete full battery charge and discharge) that they undergo. Manufacturers generally give an expected lifetime in years and / or in ‘charge-discharge cycles’.
For example:
‘Life expectancy = 10 years or 10,000 cycles, whichever is the sooner’ Lithium-ion batteries last longer than lead-acid: you may see a 10-year lifetime expectancy claimed and this is improving all the time. Normally the solar battery storage system will monitor the battery performance and should give you an indication when your batteries need replacing.
What size battery capacity do I need?
Solar Battery storage systems within homes are often provided with a capacity rating in kiloWattHours (kWh). Storage batteries for a grid connected solar PV storage system are typically around 2kW to 20kWh. This is the capability of the battery to provide power. All batteries lose some energy in charging and discharging (typically around 10%), though some have better ‘charge-discharge efficiency’ than others. Most batteries are not designed to be routinely fully discharged (can reduce battery life). Some have deeper discharge capability than others.
I already have solar, can I have more?
Yes! There are some restrictions that may limit how much you can have. We would need to submit another DNO application to see how much solar you will be allowed. This can take a couple of months to come back and they may impose an export limitation on your system.
Some of Our Projects
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4.69kW system in Havant
6 December 2023
This customer had an annual consumption of about 4600kWh and was after some battery storage. We designed a GivEnergy hybrid system with Jinko all black panels. Due to the limited space on the house roof, we designed a system with 2 different sized panels. The house had 420w Jinko panels and the garage roof,
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21kW system in Winchester
14 October 2023
This home in Winchester had an annual consumption of around 20,000kWh. The house has a three phase supply, so we chose a SolaX hybrid system with batteries along with a three phase Myenergi Zappi for the customer to charge their electric vehicle. The roofs consisted of mainly flat roof and a small pitched standing seam
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286KW Solar installed for West Sussex schools using SolarEdge technology
31 August 2018
Solar Voltaics continues to install some of the most sophisticated solar energy systems for West Sussex County Council. Systems have been installed at London Meed School in Burgess Hill, Handcross Primary School, The Brook School in Crawley and Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee School in Horsham. The technical requirements for this group of schools were
Why Choose Solar Voltaics?
CHAS (Construction Health and Safety) & Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS)
Solar Voltaics is accredited under the CHAS (Construction Health and Safety) scheme. We are experienced in working on construction sites and operating to strict safety standards.
All installations are carried out to the standards laid down by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS). We are regularly audited by NAPIT to confirm that our workmanship standards are up to the required quality levels.
No Sub-Contracting
At Solar Voltaics we prefer not to sub-contract to other companies. We stand by the quality and professionalism of our installations, because we manage them all with our own professionally trained staff.
Recommendations
We are more than happy to put you in touch with previous clients who can vouch for how we performed for them. Our solar PV experts understand that this is good commercial practice and we have plenty of clients that we can refer you to, including public sector, private companies and institutions in the UK.
Get in Touch With a Local Installer
Call now to learn how little it takes to get started, and how much you can save when your solar panel installation is in place.
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Solar Voltaics Ltd
Bramley Barn, Main Road
Chichester
West Sussex
PO18 8XA
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