Yes. In most cases a battery can help you save money and power your home in the event of a grid outage.

On the Sunshine Coast we have areas prone to black outs and grid interruptions. For these areas having a battery connected allows you to keep the lights on and powering your home.

Depending upon your night time consumption from the power grid, we find that if you pull between 5 - 50 kWh s from your power company then installing a battery will help off set these charges allowing you to power your home day and night off of renewable energy. The return on investment comes with sizing the battery correctly which is why we assess every battery enquiry individually and find a custome solution for you and your home.

Yes, there is an AC coupled option that can be retro fitted to almost every solar system out there.

However this isn’t always the best option. We would recommend investigating a little further in order to ascertain if AC or DC coupling is the best solution for your current system and your homes needs. We like to ask:

1. How much inverter capacity do you have installed currently?

2. How many phases are running to your property?

3. What model inverter do you currently have installed?

4. What is your goal from installing a battery?

Answering these questions allows us to provide you with a more comprehensive system pairing.

Installing a battery to your solar system allows you store your excess solar generation that is created and not used during sunlight hours. If this energy is sold back to your provider, they are offering on average $0.03 per kw. Storing this energy allows you to use it once your solar production has dropped when your provider is charging far more than you would have gained from selling it back. This allows you to use the energy you have produced and save as opposed to pulling from the grid.

With the growing popularity of time of use tariffs, some houses are saving themselves upwards of $0.45 a kW during peak hours. The higher your usage during these time periods and the bigger the battery the greater the savings.

Utilising higher feed in tariffs offered by some providers allows you to sell your excess back for as high as $0.28 a kW allowing you to get ahead on your bills and finish the billing period in credits.

The intriduction of the free 3 hours of power may potentially allow you to charge bigger batteries from the grid in order to help you off set more usage of an evening. If this is something you are considering we will be more than happy to step you through how this can help.

What battery should i choose? Each has their merits.

This is a very good question and one that takes some careful consideration.

With the battery market expanding quickly and seemingly new brands being added daily, we like to double down on sticking to what we know works.

Not every home is the same and different batteries offer different advantages depending upon your needs. This is why considering what is best for your home is something we take very seriously.

Considering the following questions helps us pair you to the right battery:

1. Does your solar create enough excess to first charge your battery?

2. How much of your night time usage will this offset as this figure helps you determine your return on investment?

3. Do i want to back up certain loads or my whole home?

4. How much power can i access through my back up load on grid and off grid?

Please reach out to discuss this with the team and help you figure out which battery best suits your home.

Yes there is currently still a battery rebate that you can access so long as you meet the qualifying criteria.

How long is this around for?

This depends upon how long the budget lasts. A little earlier in the year they restructred the rebate into sa tiered subsidy system to discourage oversized battery installations.

The good news is that battery stacks up to 14 kWh of capacity are eligible for the full STC Multiplier. 14-28 kWh Batteries are able to access 60 % of the multiplier and systems from 28 to 50 kWh now allowed 15 % of the rebate.

Batteries larger than 50 kWh in capacity could still bring your a significant return on your investment depending upon the price you buy your power at. Contact the team to discuss if one of these sizes works for you.

Yes, some EV’s come equipped with your standard 240V built in power outlet. This can be utilised during an outage to keep your fridge running or for charging your phone. Is this practical, no not always.

Installing and commissioning a battery specifically for your home to utilise is still a very useful additions as it will allow you to offset your nightly power draw and allow you access to backing up potentially all your power outlets in your house. This saves you the scramble of running super long extension leads out to your car.

The introduction of V2G bi directional chargers will allow this feature to be available through using your EV’s battery. I feel that a second seperate home battery will still be preferable when this is introduced as saving the EVs battery for an emergency trip may prove beneficial. We would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.