Home batteries have come along since their early days. What were once only an option for enthusiasts with very deep pockets are becoming more efficient and more affordable.
Coupled with solar panels they give homeowners better control and management of their energy bills and in some cases, even generate income.
With home batteries, energy generated from daytime sunlight via solar panels gets stored to use in the evenings or on overcast days, while any excess can still be fed back into the grid at peak buyback times.
Rosemary and Gerry recently installed a 28kWh home battery system to complement their existing solar panels.
“It was something we’d been thinking about and reading about for many years. And I’d been waiting for the right opportunitys,” Rosemary said.
“We were putting an awful lot back into the grid that we just weren’t using and having to buy power at night. The return for putting it into the grid wasn’t even close to the cost of using it at nighttime.”
After reading widely and consulting with friends and experts, they decided to install a modular battery system. “It gave us the flexibility to expand the battery capacity over time. It helped spread out the cost of buying the batteries.”
Now for about nine months of the year, Rosemary and Gerry don’t use the grid at all.
Having a home battery has completely changed their electricity consumption. Rosemary estimates they consume 97 per cent of the electricity they produce, with the remaining three per cent feeding back into the grid.
“And we have a very power-hungry family home with ducted air-conditioning, a heated swimming pool and three EVs.”
“While our investment in PVCs, home batteries and EVs has been a big financial outlay, we are tracking our savings and expect we will clear all our costs in just over eight years.”
The personal benefits of solar supported by a home battery are compelling. But there are also community-wide benefits. Home batteries can help smooth out overall energy demand and have a positive environmental impact. For instance, peak demand is usually around dinner time when people get home from work, are cooking and watching TV. To meet this peak demand electricity companies need to use an increased mix of renewable and non-renewable power sources (such as gas). But if lots of homes have their own batteries, they are using their own source of energy in the early evening and thus not adding to the demand for high peak power. This helps smooth out the variability of grid demand, reducing the need for fossil fuel backup. So, if you have a home battery you’re not only reducing your own carbon footprint, but your battery is contributing to better energy management across the system adding to a more stable and efficient grid.
Home battery costs are continuing to fall as the technology also improves, so homeowners need to do their own research on the best options. As a rough guide a 10 kWh battery will cost about $14,000 to install.
Even if you can’t install solar panels, a home battery may soon become a feasible option for saving on energy, if you are able to charge the battery at off peak rates and then use the power at high peak times rather than relying on the grid.
It’s also worthwhile looking out for any government incentives. For instance, in February this year, the Queensland Government launched the Battery Booster scheme to promote uptake of about 1000 home batteries. However, due to a strong demand the scheme closed in early May. We can only hope they launch a second phase soon.
Are you interested in finding out more ? Visit ZEN Inc. website at zeroemissionsnoosa.com/rewiring-noosa for Rosemary’s video testimonial, toolkits, online calculators and more or contact us today at info@zeroemissionsnoosa.com.
