This battery storage case study is about Mr and Mrs A who had a solar panel installation several years ago and were very pleased with it and how it worked and saved money on their bills. However they had always thought about the amount of solar electricity that was being sent back to the grid and not used by themselves. This was particularly frustrating for them because they spend the majority of their time at home. Therefore they could make good use of the electricity sent to the grid if it could be stored for usage in the evenings.
Richard Jones of Amelio Solar Energy advised them on the options for battery storage. In their case the option of an AC coupled inverter system was the best solution. This was partly because their existing system was working well with the existing micro-inverters.
The key issue was the optimum sizing of the battery capacity. This was calculated taking into account various factors including the size of their existing solar panel installation, current electricity bills and current consumption of their solar generated electricity.
Battery storage systems have come down in price considerably and so are more affordable in situations such as this. Mr and Mrs A also liked the additional benefits offered by the Alpha ESS Smile B3 technology which included:
- The easy to use App to be able to monitor the solar generation, their overall electricity consumption, the electricity available in the battery and the amount of electricity bought in from the grid.
- The ability to add more batteries in the future if it proves worthwhile – the system is modular in battery units of 2.9kWh
- The feature of being able to charge the battery with cheap off grid electricity.
- The feature of the battery being suitable for back up in the event of the electricity grid being interrupted.
Since installation the system is working well and is currently being monitored to ensure that the optimum size battery has been installed.