Solar Energy Storage

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Solar Energy Storage: Benefits of Battery Backups

Solar energy storage is rapidly becoming one of the most popular ways to generate power for both homes and businesses. In 2019, 40 percent of all new electric generating capacity was solar power. 
This was:
• The highest percentage of any energy source added to the grid
• The largest share of solar power to date
• Enough to power 14.5 million homes in the United States
As more Americans are turning to solar power for their home energy, more of them are also considering backup power storage solutions. There are significant benefits to having your own backup system, including becoming more energy independent. In this post, we’ll share a few more of these benefits, along with tax credit information, energy monitoring insights, and more.

If you already know that you’re ready to back up your home energy system, simply request a free solar consultation online. Or, call (704) 525-6767.

Or, maybe you’re still in the information gathering stage. If so, then here are answers to frequently asked questions about this kind of storage.

What is Solar Energy Storage?

With solar power, panels take in the sun’s energy and transform it into electricity. A piece of equipment called an inverter then takes that electricity and turns it into a form that you can use. When excess energy is produced, it’s sent back to the power grid. When you need more energy than what’s being produced by your solar panels, you can then take it from the grid.

There is, however, another option when excess energy is being created by your solar panels. That’s to store it yourself, rather than sending it back to the grid, for your future needs.

Here’s what’s interesting. If you would go back in time, all solar energy systems were originally off the grid. These energy systems collected the sun’s energy and stored it in a battery. These were usually lead-acid batteries.

In the late 1990s, the grid-tied inverter became used more often. When that became widely available, people using solar energy systems no longer needed their battery. Now, though, we’re coming full circle so that consumers can benefit from the best of both worlds. They have renewable energy that’s tied to the grid for reliable power AND they can have backup batteries for increased energy independence.

Frequently Asked Questions About Energy Storage:

How Does Storing Energy Work?
As mentioned, when your system creates more renewable energy than you can use, you can store that excess at your home. How? Through charging a battery created specifically for that purpose. When you have this battery backup system, the only time electricity goes to the grid is when the battery is completely recharged. (Note that batteries have differing amounts of storage capacity.)
The only time you’ll draw from the grid, then, is when your solar panels are not currently creating the energy you need AND your battery energy is depleted.
How Does This System Affect My Electric Bills?
When you switch to solar power, electric bills look different than what you were used to. That’s because of an incentive called “net metering” that’s commonly used and is available in both North Carolina and South Carolina. With the net metering system, when extra energy is sent to the grid, you receive credits. When you need to pull energy from the grid, you use up some of those credits.
If you then add solar energy storage to your system, then the electric bills will start to look different again. That’s because you likely won’t see as much back and forth between receiving and using up credits because you’ll instead be storing much more of what you need.
Energy Usage: When we determine energy usage we look at your past electrical bills from over the course of a year to make sure your system isn’t too big or too small.

Your Budget: We take your budget seriously and most importantly, we want you to be satisfied with our services. We take your feedback on how much you want to spend so that we can size your system appropriately.

Why is Battery Backup Important?
As a short-term reason, you can store up home energy that can be used when the sun isn’t shining. That way, you don’t need to tap into the grid and use up your energy credits. Plus, you can have peace of mind when the power goes out, without having to worry about having your life interrupted by, say, food spoiling in the refrigerator.
In the Carolinas, if a solar system doesn’t have a backup method for storing energy, then energy delivery is stopped as a safety precaution. So, in that situation, having a backup is essential for energy, whether that’s for your electric furnace or air conditioner, stove, microwave, or coffee maker.
If there is a middle of the night power outage, your power continues and you can enjoy a normal morning. Plus, with battery backup, your house keeps running in a closed loop system. This means that, once power is restored, all continues as before.
These are just some of the benefits of having a backup system. Here’s even more information about energy storage backups.
How Can We Monitor Our Energy Consumption and Storage?
Consumption monitoring is actually one of three key steps of gaining energy independence. These steps are to:
• Create your own power
• Monitor and manage usage
• Store excess energy

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Home Solar System

The amount of electricity that a solar energy system will produce will depend on a number of factors, including the location of the home, system design, and much more. Ideally, a home with an unobstructed south-facing view will produce more than enough energy.

 

 

Energy Storage

Installing battery backup along with your solar energy system for home or business is a smart move and can increase the value of your clean energy investment as well as peace of mind when a grid outage occur.

 

 

 

EV Chargers

Electric cars – with no gas engine at all – now work for most budgets and lifestyles. With more and more models to choose from, drivers are choosing electric vehicles (or EVs) than ever before!

 

 

How Can We Choose the Best Backup Battery for Energy Storage?

In general, you’ll want to have a battery backup that has the right amount of capacity for you. This is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh). If you want additional capacity, you can include more than one battery in your system.
Also look at a battery’s depth of discharge (DoD). This tells you how much of your battery’s capacity you should be able to use. In general, a higher number is better. Then there is the battery backup’s round-trip efficiency. This is a calculation that looks at how much energy you can use as well as how much power it takes to store that energy. Again, in general, a higher number means a better value for you.
Since 2010, we’ve helped consumers in the Carolinas meet their energy needs. We’ve been installing solar systems plus battery back-up and energy storage for families like yours for several years. Plus, home solar financing options are designed so you’ll receive tax incentives before paying anything out of pocket.
We can share the advantages of using solar energy storage and tailor a solution to your unique situation and goals. 

Choose Your Energy Security…

First, the experts at Renu Energy Solutions would be happy to talk to you about your solar energy storage options. You can set up a free virtual consultation online. In general, you’ll want to have a battery backup that has the right amount of capacity for you. This is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh). If you want additional capacity, you can include more than one battery in your system.

Tesla Powerwall

This is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that can store up to 13.5 kWh of clean energy to provide power to your home. You can mount this on your wall, and it’s integrated with the local power grid to give you the flexibility to draw this renewable energy, when needed.

Learn More

Generac PWRcell

This is another solution that can harness the sun’s power and store it for backup power during outages to protect your home and family. This battery uses revolutionary technology to provide surge power up to 10kW, with up to 8kW of continuous output. This is enough to keep most homes up and running with power.

Learn More