Battery storage

How does battery storage work?

A battery energy storage system is made up of a battery, charger and controls that allow you to store electricity when it's available and save it until a time when you want to use it.

You can also charge the battery with cheap electricity from your supplier (typically on certain tariffs at night or middle of the day), to avoid higher electricity costs at other times. If your renewable energy system didn't generate enough electricity to fill the battery, the storage battery will take care of this and charge up on cheaper electricity later in the day.

Benefits of battery storage 

There are lots of benefits to installing storage battery at home 

• Can reduce your energy bills by storing the energy you generate.
• Can help to power a heat pump which uses electricity to run or charge an electric vehicle.
• Gives you more flexibility when you want to use your free electricity from your solar panels or wind turbines.

Battery storage costs and savings

Battery storage is usually paired with an electricity generating technology like solar panels. Adding a battery can provide additional savings from your solar panels, but the battery doesn’t always recoup the initial investment.  

You can get money for exporting excess electricity form your solar panels to the grid. But installing battery storage will lower the amount you export, meaning you'll get less money from export payments. However, you’ll save more overall from using the battery than relying on export payments. You should factor in the lower export payment due to the battery storage into any savings calculations.

To maximise savings, you should consider switching to a time of use tariff which will let you charge the battery during off-peak times when electricity is cheap.

Remember when looking at the payback for battery storage, they generally last 10-15 years.