Solar battery storage

2. What capacity do I need?

While your energy consumption and solar generation will have an influence, the most overlooked consideration is your own needs & desires.  Naked Solar customers commonly consider one or all of the following that will all influence their decision about how much Solar Battery Storage capacity is right for them. 

• Minimising bills
• Quickest payback
• Utilising Solar Grid Trading
• Powercut cover
• Planning an EV

Many Solar Battery Storage solutions are expandable,  allowing you to increase your capacity in the future to match changing energy demands.  This can be an appealing opportunity to ‘dip your toe’ however, some Solar Battery Storage manufacturers update their products and cease production of older expansion modules, so bear this in mind if you’re planning future expansion.  

3. What’s covered by warranties?

Warranties can be a minefield in any industry and unfortunately, the Solar Battery Storage industry is no exception.  There’s 3 elements to be aware of in Solar Battery Storage warranties.

• Product – Covers the intergrity and functionality of the physical unit itself. Labour may or may not be covered depending on the manufacturer.
• Warrantied Cycles – refers to the equivalant energy throughput of one full discharge, so you can multiply the Useable Capacity of the battery by the number of cycles warrantied to calculate how much energy it’s warrantied to deliver.
• Warrantied Capacity % – As battery capacity degrades over time, Warrantied Capacity is the minimum amount of energy storage capacity guaranteed to be remaining by the manafucturer within the warranty period.

It’s important to note, Warranties are valid for whichever gaurantee is reached first, e.g. for Sigenergy it’s 10 Years OR 3500 cycles.

5. What about power cuts?

Not every Solar Battery storage system will continue to work when there’s a powercut.  To add this capability, your Solar Battery Storage system will need to disconnect from the grid to protect any maintenance workers who are repairing the grid.  This requires the addition of a grid isolation switch which most manufacturers now refer to as the ‘Gateway’. In the table below you’ll see we’ve listed the expected price for adding this capability.  Not all Solar Battery Storage systems will allow your Solar to continue to work in a powercut, especially if your full house is not covered by the backup.

6. What’s the right one for me?

We hope that these explanations and the table below will help you to understand what to consider when choosing a Solar Battery Storage system.  There’s a lot more manufacturers and options available to you than we can fit in the table so now that you have the questions you need to ask, go explore!

Of course Naked Solar’s Award-Winning team of expert Solar Consultants would love to help.  They’re trained to be impartial and help you find the best solution for your needs, even if that solution is to not buy Solar Battery Storage.