Home Battery Introduction

Are you considering a battery for your house? Here is a basic introduction, based on our experience. I hope it’s helpful. Please comment about any errors, omissions or questions.

1. Why is there more talk lately about getting a battery for your house?
1. As of July 1 this year, the federal government will pay for 30% of your home battery purchase. This makes it 30% cheaper to buy one.
2. What’s the purpose of a house battery?
1. A battery provides power to your house, as electricity.
2. It can power anything in your home that runs from electricity, including your fridge, lights, power points, TV.
3. It can keep your house appliances running when there is a grid outage (a “blackout”).
4. If you have solar panels, a battery can store the excess power generated during the day, so you can use it at night to avoid paying for electricity. This is why it is often called a “solar battery”.
5. You can also charge a battery from the grid when electricity is cheap, and use it when electricity is expensive from the grid (such as evenings).
6. You can export excess energy from your battery to the grid during peak demand times, to have the electricity retailer pay you at the current “export tariff” rate.
7. Basically, it can save you a lot of money on power bills and give you energy independence.
3. Some company offered me a cheap battery. Should I take it?
1. There are many things to consider. One is the energy capacity of the battery. If the battery is only 2kWh, then it will run a 2kW heater or air conditioner for only one hour, and then will be completely flat until it’s charged up again, typically the next day from solar panels. Wondering what all the measurements like “kW” (kilowatts) mean? See an explainer here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17oxBLb3Wy/
4. After I get my battery connected can I use it straight away?
1. Probably not straight away. The installer will test the system, then turn it off. The distributor (such as AusNet) will send someone out to inspect it and turn it on. This might be a wait of two weeks or more.

More to come...