The blackouts for Hunter residents as part of the storms earlier this year could soon be a thing of the past with the emergence of new home energy storage technology.
Storing your excess solar energy to use at night and during blackouts is the next big thing in home energy independence.
New home energy storage systems have been announced from manufacturers such as Samsung, Schneider, Bosch, Sony, Daimler and Tesla, with some already hitting the Australian market. These systems can be bought as part of a new solar PV system or can be retrofitted to existing solar systems.
The idea behind home energy storage is to allow owners to store the excess electricity produced by their solar system during the day. This stored electricity can then be used during blackouts and at evening peak times.
“A normal grid connect solar system is synched to the grid and goes down when the grid goes down.” says Hunter solar installation company owner Mr Michael Valentine. “these new home energy storage systems are significantly smaller and cheaper than those we use for off grid systems, but let grid connected customers keep their solar working and go off grid during a blackout.”
Dr Gary Ellem from the Tom Farrell Institute at the University of Newcastle and initiator of the annual Hunter Valley Electric Vehicle Festival says that these new home storage systems are an offshoot of the growing electric vehicle industry. “Lithium ion battery manufacturers have quickly realised that as they reduce costs and scale up production for the electric car market, new opportunities in the home energy storage market have also emerged.” The lithium ion batteries used in home energy storage are different than those used in phones or laptops and are optimised for increased safety, longer life span and lower cost.
Home storage is especially good news for home solar owners that installed larger systems with the encouragement of the now ended solar feed in tariff. Adding home storage to a grid connect solar system typically means that home energy use will be 70% self-generated, rather than 30% for those that can’t store their own energy and lose it to the grid.
“Home energy storage is also good for the grid” says Dr Ellem. “It reduces the pressure on the network in both peak generation times and peak use times. This means that we might avoid the need for future grid upgrades which are currently the major component of power price increases.”