How do solar panels and battery storage work together?

It may seem obvious to say but solar panels only generate electricity when the sun is shining.  And that creates a problem.  When the sun has gone home for the day and you need to power all those light bulbs so you can see in the dark, what do you do?

Using electricity from the national grid is the logical solution but when you use battery storage systems, you can avoid this problem.

How does that work?

Solar panels create electrical energy from the sun in the form of DC electricity.  You can use that electricity as you see fit while the power is being generated.  However you can convert some of the electricity that you don’t need from DC into AC power and store it in batteries to be used later.

This means that when the solar panels have stopped generating electricity, you can switch to battery power and still be running independent of the national grid. As and when the battery has depleted its energy supply (if it even gets to that stage), you can then switch again to the national grid power supply.

This means that, depending on your energy requirements, you can run your building entirely on renewable energy generated from your own premises – day and night!

What if the solar panels generate more power than the batteries can store?

If the batteries become fully charged (as they will mostly in the summer months) yet there is still plenty of sunshine left in the day, then you can actually send excess electricity that your solar panels generate back to the national grid and get paid for it.

Solar Battery Systems are becoming a more popular choice and even customers who have only every had solar panels installed are now having battery storage systems fitted in addition to the existing set up. The benefits to switching to a solar battery system are clear:

As long as you don’t exceed the power stored in the battery, you can run on renewable energy around the clock.  The solar panel handles electricity during the day and the battery handles the quieter evenings and night time power requirements.

This all means that on top of going green, your energy bills will be significantly cut.

You can even earn money back by selling the energy stored in the batteries if you are not needing it all.  If you sell your electric power during peak times, there is greater revenue generating possibilities.  You can even ‘rent’ your battery storage system to store excess grid energy. Yet another way you can create a new source of income.

Switching to solar panels and battery storage systems is a great way of going green.  You can reduce your carbon footprint by over a tonne of CO2 per year and, depending on the scale of the project, save even more.

Prices for Solar Battery Systems

Every project is unique.  From the number of solar panels that you need to the type that need to be installed, what mounting systems are required….the list goes on.  And that is before we look at the different options for battery storage systems.

From survey and design, through to installation and maintenance, we offer turnkey solutions for your business.

We provide an extensive portfolio of services and solutions such as energy monitoring, control strategy analysis, building heat leakage analysis, design, supply, installation and maintenance of renewable technologies, and general advice on how to make your building as efficient as it can be.