7 Best Solar Battery Storage Systems

Solar battery storage systems are ways to store energy for nighttime, cloudy days, or power outages. It is important to choose the best battery system for your home, and here are a few of our top picks.

First, Do You Need A Solar Battery Storage System?

If you have solar panels, solar battery systems are not necessary, but they can be beneficial depending on your circumstances.

• If you experience prolonged or frequent power outages. Having a backup battery storage system is very beneficial in this scenario, especially if you have essential systems such as medical equipment. This will ensure that you have power, even when the electricity goes out.
• If you live off-grid. If you live in a remote area or do not use the central utility grid, you will need a solar battery storage system if you want to use electricity at night or when there is no sun to generate power.
• If your area has a Time of Use rate. In some places, the rate of electricity fluctuates depending on the time of day and the rate of demand. It can save you quite a bit of money on your electricity bill to use a home battery storage system if this is the case in your area.
• If you want more sustainable energy. Rather than switching to the grid at certain times of the day, using sustainable energy through battery backup power gives you more sustainability and the use of renewable energy.
• If your net metering policy is unfavorable. In many states, utility companies are working to remove or replace net metering. Having a backup battery bank may be the way to go if you are in one of those states and use solar energy.
• If you want to be energy independent. Even if you live in a brand new HOA neighborhood, you don't have to pay a dime to your local utility company. With the right size solar energy system and battery storage, you can generate and store enough electricity to become totally energy independent.

A solar battery will allow you to use stored electricity at night.

How Much Do Solar Batteries Cost?

The average cost of solar batteries is between $8,500 and $10,000 not including installation. After installation costs are added, the cost of your battery backup system can be between $10,000 and $20,000.

Some factors that will affect the cost are battery chemistry (lithium-ion battery, lead-acid battery, etc), battery capacity, whether or not there is an inverter, battery size, and battery quality. The installation costs will also vary depending on local labor costs and the complexity of installation.

The Best Solar Battery Storage Systems

Best Overall Solar Battery: Generac PWRcell Revolutionary Battery Storage System

This solar storage system goes above and beyond and is not only a powerful battery, but offers up to 9kW (kilowatt-hours) of storage capacity. It offers a standard Outdoor Rated (OR) battery cabinet and is compatible with almost any solar installation and can withstand more extreme temperatures.

Best AC-Coupled Battery System: Tesla Powerwall

The Powerwall is an integrated backup system that reduces your reliance on the grid and stores energy for backup when there are outages. It will give your household continuous power and keep everything in your house running seamlessly.

Best Off-Grid System: SUNGOLDPOWER 12000W Complete Off-Grid Solar Kit

This lithium battery kit includes everything you need for being off the grid. It is complete with a solar charger controller, a monocrystalline solar panel system, an inverter, a battery with Bluetooth, and everything you’ll need for installation and to support your energy needs.

Best Solar Lithium-Ion Batteries: Enphase Encharge 10 Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery

This battery provides low energy costs and features 12 embedded grid-forming microinverter that provide flexibility in your battery capacity. It is reliable, smart, simple, and safe.

Best Indoor Battery Solution: Sonnen Core+

This stackable indoor solution offers up to 60 kWh battery power. It comes with a 10-year warranty and its sleek design is coupled with intelligent energy management, making it safe, long-lasting, and efficient.

Best Lithium-Ion Solar Battery Backup: LG Chem RESU

This DC-coupled solar energy storage system is of excellent quality and offers everything you need to pair with your existing solar system including backup protection against power outages, time-of-use load shifting, storage of excess energy for later use, and greater energy independence.

Best Hybrid Solar Power System: Sol-Ark 4.8kW Universal On-Grid & Off-Grid Solar Kit

This all-in-one hybrid solar system takes gives homeowners a whole new level of storage solutions. It can be installed with a fully powered backup system for energy usage in the case of outages, or it can be fully independent to deliver power to remote, off-grid areas, no matter the amount of energy your household uses.

Dear Colleague,

With so many different options of large-scale energy storage technologies to choose from, how do you pick the right one? On top of that, how do you decide on the most profitable business model to pair with the chosen tech?

Due to the increasing concerns about global warming and other environmental impacts of burning fossil fuels, engineers and policymakers are paying more attention to energy storage solutions than ever before. Apart from having the ability to address the intermittent supply of renewable energy, large scale energy storage assets can also provide a multitude of other uses including ancillary services such as frequency regulation and voltage control. Hence, the first step to any successful energy storage project is to figure out exactly what services you require your energy storage solutions to provide and which technologies are able to meet these requirements at the highest possible efficiency.

The Right Combination: Value Stack + Technology + Cost Efficiency = Maximum Profit

Once the necessary use cases of your energy storage assets have been decided upon, the next step would be to match the energy storage technology that will be able to perform the required tasks at the highest possible efficiency. Following this, an accurate costs analysis will need to be conducted which should take into account full life cycle costs including installation, operation, maintenance, decommissioning, disposal and/or recycling costs. On top of that, a precise value stack needs to be formulated in order to extract the most value out of the chosen energy storage technology.

Learn how to choose the correct stationary energy storage technology, balance all possible use cases with the rate of degradation to ensure the longest possible lifetime and maximise profitability of large scale energy storage projects at the upcoming 13th Energy Storage World Forum that will take place in Europe, 18-20 November. Topics that cover this include: 

• Establishing A Comparison Metric To Evaluate Key Energy Storage Solutions Available In The Market To Guarantee The Highest Possible ROI

   

• Balancing The Different Use Cases Of BESS Against The Rate Of Degradation To Maximise Available Revenue Streams Without Increasing Maintenance

• Costs Performing An Accurate Life Cycle Economic Assessment Which Evaluates The Most Relevant Components During An ESS Entire Lifetime

Why Are Lithium-Ion Batteries Still The Go-To Choice?

Despite the cost issues and challenges that lithium-ion batteries pose within stationary energy storage applications, we find that in every single one of our past 12 forums, lithium-ion batteries remained the most commercially viable energy storage option. This is largely due to the fact that research and development around this technology is being mainly driven by the electric vehicle (EV) market. 

Compared to other battery options, lithium-ion batteries seem to have much higher energy densities and control a majority of the global grid side energy storage market. As you know, new innovations, such as replacing the graphite anode with new materials, can enhance the battery performance resulting in a much more competitive long-term storage option. How else can lithium ion batteries be made more competitive? What is the most cost effective way of doing this? 

Concerns regarding the actual safety of lithium ion batteries have been brought up due to recent incidents of these batteries catching fire. Topics featured in our programme that could help clarify doubts in this area would be:

• Preventing Thermal Runaway in Lithium Ion Batteries By Implementing Strict Maintenance And Operational Guidelines

• Investigating The Root Causes Of Energy Storage Related Fire Incidents In Order To Find The Best Measures To Prevent Them

Alternative Storage Systems In The Market

However, other storage options with different advantages do exist in the market, such as lead-acid batteries and flow batteries. While less popular than lithium-ion batteries, flow batteries are being used in a number of energy storage projects due to their relatively low energy densities and long life cycles which makes them better-suited for supplying continuous power. 

Hydrogen fuel cells which generate electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen is another storage option with different but equally appealing characteristics; They are reliable, have high energy densities and release zero emissions which makes this technology perfect for long-term energy storage and sector coupling in the form of Power-to-X technology. Though they remain expensive, hydrogen fuel cells are being used as primary and backup power for many critical facilities like data centres. Continuous research and development around hydrogen storage will fuel further economic viability of this technology and with that, even more attractive business models. 

Find out more about the potential of Power-to-X technologies through the following topics at the 13th Energy Storage World Forum this November:

• Utilising Power-To-X As A Key Technology To Transform And Save Energy From Renewable Sources For Long-Term Storage

• Decarbonising Industrial Sectors With The Help Of Large Scale Hydrogen Production And Storage

Listen to the first-hand experience of energy storage technology end-users including utilities and independent power producers through more than 35 brand new researched topics and case studies combined with a variety of unique learning experiences that will help to actualise lessons learned.

Join us to gain an unbiased, holistic view of the latest developments in the energy storage industry. The Dufresne team and I are looking forward to meeting you in person this November! 

Parveena Basheer

Conference Researcher

Dufresne

PS: Catch more than 25 end-users presenting at 2 conferences that will take place back-to-back over 5 days. Check out our early bird offer and save money when you register early! 

If you want to know more about this and other topics directly from end users of energy storage technologies join us at one of these annual events: The Energy Storage World Forum (Grid Scale Applications), or The Residential Energy Storage Forum, or one of our Training Courses.