Lower Your Utility Bills With a Solar Energy Storage System
Battery storage helps solar contribute energy to the grid even at night and on cloudy days. It also provides backup power during utility power outages.
Choose a solar + battery installer with experience in residential installations. Ask them to provide a detailed estimate, contract, and warranty before starting work.
Find out if you qualify for local and state incentives on solar + battery systems.
Lower Utility Bills
Adding battery storage to your solar energy system is one of the best ways to lower your electricity bills. This is because it helps solar contribute power to the grid even when the sun isn’t shining (it’s cloudy, rainy, or at night). Energy storage can also help smooth out variations in how solar power flows on the grid caused by differences in sunlight intensity due to season, time of day, and clouds, dust, haze, or obstructions.
In areas with time-of-use billing structures, solar + storage can save you money on your utility bill by reducing your consumption during peak energy hours when the cost of power is highest. This is known as peak shaving. It is a more economical and environmentally friendly approach than other methods for managing energy costs, such as using diesel generators, manually turning off equipment, or paying demand charges.
POWERHOME SOLAR installs solar + storage systems for both residential and commercial clients. If you want to learn more about how a home battery system can help you reduce your electric bill, visit our website and chat with an expert online or give Solar energy storage system us a call at 800-POWER-90. We’ll be happy to answer all of your questions and provide you with a quote for installation. You can also get a tax credit to accelerate the return on investment of your solar energy system and save you even more money in the long run.
More Energy Self-Sufficiency
A solar energy storage system allows homeowners to capture more of the energy they generate during the day. It stores excess power so that it can be used at night or on cloudy days when the sun is not out. This is an effective way to reduce reliance on fossil fuels which produce carbon emissions and are subject to price spikes.
Battery systems used to be very costly but today, there are many affordable options. Most of these battery systems use lithium-ion technology that has been designed to work with the solar inverter and other components in a residential solar energy system.
A residential energy storage system can increase self-consumption by up to 65%, depending on the size of the battery. A 1 kWh battery increases self-consumption by 35% while a 5 kWh battery pushes it up to 65%. Beyond that, increasing the battery size doesn’t improve self-consumption much more.
Energy storage can be co-located with a solar photovoltaic (PV) system or installed separately in a home. Either way, it helps smooth out variations in how solar energy flows into and out of the electricity grid. It shifts solar output to evening and night hours and mitigates the impact of peak demand on the power grid. NREL performs both solar-plus-storage and standalone analysis for its customers to help them make better informed decisions on the type of battery system they need, how it can best fit into their energy landscape and what the unique economic and grid benefits will be.
Less Dependence on the Grid
Solar energy systems are great for reducing your dependence on electricity from the grid. They lower your utility bills and help you reduce your carbon footprint by cutting down on fossil fuel usage. However, the functionality of your solar panels is limited at night and on cloudy days. Adding a battery storage system like the POMCube iCAN NetZero to your solar panel system will enhance your energy independence, further lowering your utility bills and making you less susceptible to power outages.
Solar batteries are available in a range of energy capacities (measured in kilowatt-hours or megawatt-hours) and power capacities, with different types serving differing functions. For example, Solar energy storage system shorter-term storage may be used to manage daily output fluctuations or to help smooth out generation during a utility rate change, while longer-term storage can provide backup power for a period of days or weeks.
Without the help of a solar battery, when solar production drops, the excess power is exported to the grid. This usually happens during peak hours, when demand is high, and can lead to high utility charges for consumers. When paired with PV, a solar battery allows you to take advantage of those higher export rates by using the extra energy from your battery at those times, lowering your electricity costs.
Environmentally Friendly
Solar energy storage systems are able to gather electricity when it’s available and then release it back into your business’s energy grid. This is a valuable feature because most businesses use more energy in the morning when people are getting ready and at night when many appliances and electronics are in use.
Solar power production is also often impacted by weather conditions like clouds, dust, and haze. This is why incorporating solar energy storage into your off-grid system can make it more resilient against these types of environmental adversities.
Energy storage systems differ in their energy and power capacities, which determine how long they can store electricity. Some are able to offer short-term storage that can smooth out the flow of electricity during output fluctuations from passing clouds, while others are able to provide supply over longer periods, such as days or weeks during a brownout.
The type of battery system you choose will have a significant impact on the efficiency of your off-grid solar energy system. You’ll want to ensure that the battery’s capacity correlates directly with your energy consumption needs, as well as determining whether to opt for environmentally friendly lithium-ion batteries or more traditional lead acid options. Aurora Solar makes this decision easier by using software that analyzes load off-setting and smart battery sizing recommendations, as well as battery self-consumption modeling for customers in an easy-to-understand model.
