Battery Storage for Solar Panels and Backup Power Options
Battery Storage for Solar Panels and Backup Power Options
Nearly every homeowner can agree that power outages are a pain. If you don’t have a generator, you’re stuck with no electricity until the power grid is back up and running. Even if you have a generator, the consistent refueling and maintenance can be tiresome.
What if I told you there was a way to avoid power outages and ensure that you always have access to the energy your home needs? That option is available to you if you go solar.
How Solar Batteries Work
Your solar energy system is designed to overproduce during high production times (during the day and summer) so that your home has enough energy to operate during low production times (at night or during winter). This excess energy needs to go somewhere until you are ready to use it in your home. One of your options is to store this energy on a solar battery.
Solar batteries work like a regular battery, power bank, or generator: they hold energy until you want to use it, then allow you to pull off the energy you need. Your solar system will send any unused energy from your panels straight to storage; you don’t need to do anything!
Solar Batteries and Net Metering
Solar battery systems work hand in hand with net metering. Net metering is a program offered by most utility companies that allows homeowners to store their excess energy on the power grid for only a small monthly connectivity fee. Your meter keeps track of how much power you store on and use from the grid, and your utility company will only charge you for any energy you use beyond what you already had stored and available. If you end the month with unused energy still stored on the grid, that energy will roll over to the next month for you to use.
If you have a solar battery, you can send excess energy to the battery until it is full, then send any additional excess energy to the grid. When you need to use your stored energy, you can choose whether to pull energy off of the grid or off of your battery, even customizing where in your home you want to use each method. For example, you could run your refrigerator off of your battery and your remaining home appliances off of grid storage.
Whenever you use stored energy from your battery, your solar system will refill your battery the next time it produces excess energy. Your solar system prioritizes keeping your battery full, filling it up before it sends any extra energy to the grid. That way if the grid experiences a power outage, you have energy waiting on your battery for you to use.
Benefits of Battery Storage
A solar battery is an excellent way to improve energy resilience. A resilient energy system is one that has a low probability of experiencing a long electrical outage and is able to quickly recover from outages with minimal overall impact. Batteries allow your home to avoid power outages and maintain energy production regardless of the state of the power grid.
Solar batteries are a more expensive option than relying solely on net metering, but there are certainly reasons why a homeowner would opt to use a solar battery for their energy storage. In particular, homeowners who frequently experience power outages, or who would be greatly impacted by a power outage, would benefit from the use of a solar battery.
It is important to note that one solar battery will not be able to power your entire home in the case of a power outage. It is usually only able to provide power for the essentials, like your fridge, wifi, well pump, and some lights. You can attach multiple batteries to your system if you want to power more of your home, but that will continue to rack up the price. Batteries make the most sense as a backup power option for your home essentials, like a generator.
In addition to the benefit of backup power, using some form of energy storage is good for the environment. When your system is not producing, you can use the solar energy you have stored instead of relying on traditional energy sources that release harmful gas emissions. Solar batteries are also a cleaner option than traditional generators, which rely on fossil fuels.
Invest in your Power with Solar Battery Storage
Solar batteries have a wide variety of advantages that make them a valuable investment for homeowners. They are a clean option to store excess energy, they allow homeowners to avoid power outages, and they increase a homeowner’s energy resilience.
Are you curious about other power storage options available to solar system owners? Check out our Net Metering blog to learn about this free energy storage alternative.
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