Don't get solar batteries

Screwdriva

In my experience (across 200+ installations now), there is truth on both sides of this debate. Batteries will not make much fiscal sense for those with low electricity import. But they will make quite a lot of fiscal of sense for those with high consumption.

This kWh threshold used to hover around +/- 4000kWh per annum but I'm sure the economics will continue to change, as cheap batteries and lucrative tariffs continue to be introduced to the market. 

Personally, I tend to avoid products from companies with questionable ethics and who are known to throw their hands up in the air when things go wrong, which really limits battery options. If I were to get a battery today, it would only be the Powerwall 3 but the economics just don't make sense for my level of consumption. One day.... 

badmemory

My neighbours, who have much lower usage & smaller battery than I do but also east/west facing but no overshadowing, have not bothered doing anything to optimise the benefits of a battery.  They ended the last winter with a zero energy bill for the full year.  Never going to happen to me.  But when your annual bill has been around £3k & you are looking at under £1500.  Can't believe it was mostly an impulse buy.

Exiled_Tyke

Another (weak?) argument in favour of batteries.   This Summer IO Go has been giving me lots of cheap charging slots during peak Sunny PV production times.  I therefore wonder whether we are not too far from a time when the export rates during peak sunny times will become very low for everyone on export tariffs.  If that does occur then the economics of charging batteries during sunny spells to export in the evening peak consumption period may swing more towards battery ownership than it does now. 

badmemory

I haven't been doing this long, nearly six months, & have already noticed the export tariffs going down.  I am trying to focus more on the using free which will not happen in autumn & winter & trying to optimise using cheap.  So filling battery in the middle of the night will soon be a major target.  I also need to figure out if it is worth putting a bit in the battery before the teatime boost to prices.  I must say that I definitely believe that an installation without a battery would be a bad idea in my circumstances.  Yes it would save a lot of money on the installation but with my high usage I need any battery to cover the bad times.

Vitor

I was looking at the step-up cost of batteries. As we're retired and cook and heat with gas, it made more sense to run the dishwasher, washing machine etc. during the day when sun was brightest and the panels are covering all or most of the electricity demand. Plus the 'always on' freezer, combi etc. are base load for the panels during daylight hours.