System practicality

Most basic domestic battery systems have useful storage of between 3kWh – 6kWh. To put this into perspective, a typical UK home uses about 11kWh of electricity per day. As a result, battery storage has a very practical application in protecting the home against power cuts and heavily reducing evening electricity usage throughout the year.

If you have a 4kWp solar installation in the south of the UK, it will typically produce more than 11kWh between the months of March until October allowing you to save electricity for evening and night time usage.

Indeed, if you were to have a power cut at home in the early hours of the morning, in essence if you didn’t change your usage habits you may likely get half way through the day before the battery runs out of useful energy.

Product choice

Although Tesla has done a fantastic job in marketing and raising awareness in the sector, there is a long list of other manufacturers and system providers which have been in the market longer.

Some of the best and most advanced products sold in the UK include: Wattstor, SMA Sunny Island, Tesla Powerwall, Growatt, Powervault, Sonnenbatterie or Samsung. Check these out before going for the shiniest one on the shelf!

System costs

Prices for batteries vary by a fair bit at the moment but the current cost per usable kWh of storage is between £1,000 – £1,500 for the equipment. For a fully installed system including labour and inverter/charger, prices start from around £4,500 for a 3kWh system. For a higher spec 6kWh system this price could easily creep up to nearer £5,000+.

The costs listed above are for systems using traditional lead acid batteries, like those in your car. The likes of Tesla batteries use Lithium Ion technology which is getting plenty of backing, but there are also aqueous batteries for those who are more ‘eco’. All of these different battery types come at different prices to the consumer.

Payback

The dreaded term that all new renewable technology has to tackle… Well, unfortunately, based on standard system payback modelling and the fact that there are no government subsidies for this technology, it means that you won’t get your money back before you have to change the batteries for new ones! As such, battery systems don’t currently pay for themselves using standard modelling like solar PV or heat pumps.

But, if you believe that investment in the sector will reduce battery price and that mains electricity may become more expensive, then you might not have long to wait.

If you still have any questions about home battery storage,
please don't hesitate to contact the Mesh team today.