Solar battery

Stoodles

I want to add a battery to my existing 16 solar panels, installed in 2014.

Where can I go to get unbiased information, so I know what questions to ask?

Dogbyte009

You could try this from Which: https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/solar-panels/article/solar-panels/solar-panel-battery-storage-a2AfJ0s5tCyT

The key thing to be aware of is that you'll get relatively little benefit in the winter months as there aren't enough hours of daylight to get a full charge into the battery.

debitcardmayhem

Dogbyte009 said:

You could try this from Which: https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/solar-panels/article/solar-panels/solar-panel-battery-storage-a2AfJ0s5tCyT

The key thing to be aware of is that you'll get relatively little benefit in the winter months as there aren't enough hours of daylight to get a full charge into the battery.

That depends on your tariff, I  charge my battery overnight @17.5p for the days usage, and on days like today bright sunshine did a full wash from solar gen and I have currently exported 3kWh at 12:15

amanda1024

Also, I think you’d save VAT if you waited until February.

gefnew

Try here.
Green & ethical MoneySaving — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Dogbyte009

debitcardmayhem said:

That depends on your tariff, I  charge my battery overnight @17.5p for the days usage, and on days like today bright sunshine did a full wash from solar gen and I have currently exported 3kWh at 12:15

Also depends on your system, my battery only charges from the panels. And yes, yesterday was great - full charge by 3pm - but that's a relative rarity in winter and today the panels are under an inch of snow.

[Deleted User]

Dogbyte009 said:

debitcardmayhem said:

That depends on your tariff, I  charge my battery overnight @17.5p for the days usage, and on days like today bright sunshine did a full wash from solar gen and I have currently exported 3kWh at 12:15

Also depends on your system, my battery only charges from the panels. And yes, yesterday was great - full charge by 3pm - but that's a relative rarity in winter and today the panels are under an inch of snow.

....which leads to important questions to ask about the battery you buy:

1. Can I charge it from the mains using cheap rate electricity?

2. Can I force it to discharge at a time of my choosing?

The significance of this is that as well as the more obvious benefit of being able to save any spare solar energy to use overnight, you'll be able to buy cheap electricity overnight for use during the day. Some tariffs will pay you more for any spare energy you export if you do that at peak times, so the ability to "force discharge" is well worth having. Even if you're on a regular tariff, you can make a worthwhile amount during the winter savings sessions by exporting during the sessions.

Stoodles

Thanks for that. Already there is a lot to think about. I'm currently on the second trance FiT, so getting 20.43p per unit, but don't have smart meters so I wonder whether there would need to be a lot more changes to benefit from altering the time of export.  This isn't a system we chose, it came with the house when we bought it.

We have been told we can't have smart meters, as we have three phase.

[Deleted User]

Stoodles said:

Thanks for that. Already there is a lot to think about. I'm currently on the second trance FiT, so getting 20.43p per unit, but don't have smart meters so I wonder whether there would need to be a lot more changes to benefit from altering the time of export.  This isn't a system we chose, it came with the house when we bought it.

We have been told we can't have smart meters, as we have three phase.

Hi, even without a battery a smart meter is worthwhile as it will give you metered export and access to a range of export tariffs. You can keep the FIT part of the payment and just change the export bit. Moving to Octopus Agile outgoing more of less doubled my export payments.

QrizB

You can definitely get a three phase smart meter. If your supplier says otherwise, they're gaslighting you.

gefnew

3-phase Smart Meter installs in UK - when will they happen? - E.ON Next Community (eonnext.com)