Thinking about adding a battery storage system to your existing solar panel system, so that you minimise your reliance on the grid? Or maybe you haven’t yet made the switch to solar, and you’re on the fence about whether you need storage too?

There has never been a better time to consider battery storage in Adelaide, following the State Government’s announcement of significant subsidies available per home as part of the Home Battery Subsidy Scheme. What’s more, they’ve also committed to $100 million in low-interest loans that will help pay for both batteries and solar panel systems.
So whether you’re upgrading to add storage, or just getting started with solar, you can take advantage of these lucrative subsidies today.

Who is eligible for the Home Battery Scheme?
The subsidy covers up to $6,000 per property, and is available for 40,000 homes. More than 1,350 South Australians have been approved for a battery storage subsidy since the announcement. Anyone who is connected to the electricity grid is eligible to apply, and Energy Concession Holders are able to apply for a larger subsidy.

Are there limitations for certain retailers or brands?
More than 80 providers are qualified to sell and install batteries included in the scheme. There are 11 brands and more than 170 individual systems deemed safe and reliable with more to be approved.

How is the subsidy calculated?
A $6,000 subsidy is the maximum possible allowed under the scheme. The specific amount your battery is eligible for will be determined by the capacity of the battery you choose. Eligible households are entitled to $500/kWh and concession holders $600/kWh. This amount is expected to decrease over time, so don’t wait too long to make your decision.

How do I access a low-interest loan?
Once you’ve been granted a subsidy under the Home Battery Scheme, you can then apply for low-interest finance through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to help with the battery cost, or to also include new or additional solar panels that you want to purchase.

How do I tell if solar storage is for me?
Have a look at your last electricity bill. How much electricity, in kilowatt hours, are you using per day? How much of that usage is used during daylight hours, and how much is at night?

Ideally, you want to gauge how much energy you’re using at night, when solar panels would not generate electricity. These are the times you’d rely on what’s stored in a battery.

To give you an idea of an average cost to install a 10kWh battery to an existing solar panel system it is approximately $6,000. If you want to combine that with a 6kW solar panel system you would need to add approximately $5,000 to the previous battery price.

Armed with this information and if your estimated budget fits with the above indicative pricing, your next step is to talk to a member of the Solar Warehouse Australia team to work out whether your existing panels could generate enough to cover you, and whether the cost would be worth it. We can then discuss your situation and the range of batteries that could best suit you.

In late 2018, the Lithium Ion Battery Test Centre in Canberra released its latest six-monthly report.
This bi-annual test, funded by government organisation Australian Renewable Energy Association (ARENA), aims to fast-track Australia’s uptake of solar by equipping consumers with the information they need to make good investment decisions.

The report tested 10 battery systems back in 2017. Each had its storage capacity cycled three times a day, simulating the effects of once-per-day cycling in a third of the timeframe.

Of these, only half made it to completion. Top performers here were the BYD B Box Battery and the LG Chem RESU10H Battery, demonstrating minimal capacity fade over time. In fact based on these simulation, after 10 years, the BYD B Box Battery is expected to maintain an amazing 75% capacity, whereas the LG Chem RESU10H Battery is expected to retain 62% capacity.

These results indicated that if a family were to cycle their BYD B Box once per day, then it would still be performing at 75% of original capacity after 10 years of reliable performance. Customers should be confident in this result, considering most people only cycle their battery 0.8 times per day.

Not only can you expect your LG Chem RESU10H Battery and BYD B Box Battery systems to be a reliable investment over time, but you can also rest assured in the knowledge that they both easily exceed their minimum warranty requirements of 60% at the end of 10 years.

The poorer performers in this particular test included Alpha ESS, Pylontech and GNB LFP. The last one didn’t even make it to 10 years.

And finally, DC to DC round trip efficiency was measured across 10 batteries, with the top three performers again being BYD Battery, LG Chem RESU10H Battery, and Simpliphi.

Reports like these just go to show that consumers can be easily misled by manufacturers’ promises, and need to rely on trusted resources and undertake their own research before investing in a solar battery system in Adelaide.

Both the BYD B Box Battery and the LG Chem RESU10H are part of the recommended energy storage systems by the team at Solar Warehouse Australia for their consistent performance year on year. Talk to our team today to discuss long-term performance of your solar and battery storage system. There is an LG Chem solar battery rebate Adelaide and BYD solar battery rebate Adelaide that we can also assist you with applying for. If you would like more information on the SA Home solar battery subsidy get in touch anytime and we can assist.

So you’re considering investing your hard-earned money into a solar panel system in Adelaide for your home or business. You’ve jumped online to compare products and pricing. Now what? Well, if you want to get the most out of your investment then shopping for the cheapest price solar panel systems could be the most crucial mistake you could make. Investing a bit more money for a better-quality solution from a local solar company in Adelaide could make a world of a difference at to the longevity of savings your solar panel system could provide.

Customers are staring to realise this and that is why many are now choosing SolarEdge as their choice of inverter solution. Increasingly, homeowners and business owners are appreciating the value of day-to-day monitoring of their solar panel system. While many customers take care to do their research prior to installing their system, equal care needs to be taken to monitor, tweak, and ultimately improve your system’s performance over time. After all, solar is a long-term investment, and it’s well worth your while to spend some time getting it right.

The SolarEdge Monitoring Portal is used by more than 1,000,000 customers globally, to track and adjust their everyday system performance. With a clean interface design that gives you clear insights at a glance, it’s an easy way to streamline what was once a time-consuming chore. Now, it takes just a couple of minutes to click through your monitoring dashboard and keep tabs on what’s happening with every component of your solar panel system.

SolarEdge monitoring is free and is available for the life of your solar system. The portal is available on most Apple and Android smart devices as well as through SolarEdge web portal for PC monitoring. The cloud-based platform shows you data, including graphs and reports, panel level energy yields and performance, system uptime and financial performance. Your local Solar Warehouse Australia team member are trained to understand how to interpret these figures if you’re ever unsure and need a run through in greater detail.

If any faults are detected, you’ll receive an alert and be able to respond instantly. What’s more, Solar Warehouse Australia’s team also monitor the performance of your system and are notified too so we can remote troubleshoot any concern and minimise the need for time consuming on-site visits, and this cal all be done from the comfort of our office.
For those in the know, the system also allows you to accurately track and analyse performance down to each individual solar panel. Anything that’s not performing at its peak, due to shading, heavy soiling low light conditions etc, the advanced software built into each panels optimizer and the inverter adjust for maximum efficiency at all times of the day.

There’s no doubt that SolarEdge is one of the most advanced and highly regarded solar inverter brands, preferred by industry professionals and customers alike. If you’re thinking that a SolarEdge system could be the right choice for your property, have a chat to one of our informative and helpful Solar Warehouse Australia team members today.