In today’s online environment, there are hundreds of articles and viewpoints on solar and battery storage, and you may find yourself asking if it is worth the investment. The ultimate question being – does solar with battery storage reduce your power bills? The short answer is yes! But let us break that down.
Did you know that electricity operates in time? Electricity supply must always be in balance with the demand to ensure a safe and reliable electrical grid. This concept may be a little confusing, so, let’s put this into an example.
When you have a grid-tie inverter with no battery storage, and it is a beautiful, sunny day outside, a solar power system usually generates enough energy for your home plus more. If there is no demand to meet that supply in your house, energy is exported and sold back to the grid to keep the balance. However, you do not sell it for the rate you brought. It’s usually much less.
In this example, you would end up selling your self-generated power at a reduced price because during the day you are generating too much and are often away from the home and therefore not using it. Then when the sun goes down, you would need to repurchase it from the network at a higher price during peak times. And, at this point it seems like you are getting a little ripped off, doesn’t it? So, how else could you leverage your power to ensure you are getting the biggest bang for your buck?
Well, it is simple; you could invest in a solar power system with battery storage, like our Redback Smart Hybrid System or the Smart 3 Phase Hybrid System. Instead of the surplus solar energy going back to the network, like in our example above, it goes directly to your battery, and you can use this power at peak times (like at night or the morning) or on a cloudy day! Consequently, you would be importing less power from the grid, and your power bills will reduce.
Research commissioned by the Smart Energy Council suggests that “solar batteries have the potential to cut families’ power bills by 60 to 80 per cent.” (Smart Energy Council, 2019). Reducing or in some cases eliminating your power bill is one of the many benefits of battery storage.
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