Solar Batteries For Home or Business
Whether you’re looking for solar batteries for your home or business in or around Brisbane or need to power a property a long way from anywhere, Spinifex Energy has the products and advice you’re looking for.
Although Australian sunshine is almost unlimited, converting it into usable, reliable energy cost-effectively has been a complicated, often confusing process. And until relatively recently, battery storage has simply too expensive and cumbersome to be a realistic option for many homeowners and business operators. For those in remote regions, there have been issues around reliability and the effective life of battery storage in harsh environments.
Happily, today’s solar batteries are unrecognisable from the massive units of a decade ago. They’re smaller, more efficient, and becoming less expensive – with new brands coming to market every year.
Solar Battery Types
In short, there are four types of solar batteries, each with pros and cons:
Lead acid
These old friends have been used since the nineteenth century to store solar energy. Their longevity is due to their reliability and low upfront cost and new technology mean they can be recycled. Lead acid batteries are considered a simple form of battery storage as the batteries need to be managed by a centralised battery management system (unlike lithium batteries which generally are all managed internally).
Lithium ion
These are the fresh new faces of the battery world, growing in popularity with the rise of EVs because their higher ‘depth of discharge’ means more time between recharges. Lithium batteries are generally a compact system making them more practical for residential installations.
Flow Batteries
Containing a chargeable, water-based electrolyte, this new technology is gaining traction because of their 100 percent depth of discharge, fire-retardance, and a lifespan of up to 30 years. They are, however, still relatively expensive and physically large, limiting their current applications.
Evaluating what’s available, designing systems that work for individual circumstances and navigating financing requires expert knowledge and experience, so talking with Spinifex makes sense.
Solar Batteries – FAQ
Are solar batteries worth it?
Long story short, solar batteries are absolutely worth it. At Spinifex, the question we’re always asked is – has the cost of solar come down enough to warrant a good pay back? A better way to answer it is that we’re seeing more instances of natural disaster affect people’s electricity supply, more coal stations closing down and external factors like rising cost of fuel and its supply, impacting people’s access to reliable power. Instead, solar batteries and power are giving people peace of mind to use and generate their own. All of these factors combined, mean the economics of the battery are worth considering.
How do solar batteries work?
Solar batteries are generally connected to a solar power system which will charge during the day and then discharge power into the home or business after the sun goes down.
How long do solar panel batteries last?
Solar batteries can have a warranty for anytime from five to ten years, but batteries will have a useful life dependent on how they are used by the home or business. If they are sized correctly, well maintained and managed there are battery units which have been out in the field for over 20 years and still operating.
Are battery rebates available?
Unfortunately, there are no battery rebates available in Queensland.