Solutions
Battery storage + emergency backup
How it works, and where it sits
A home battery stores electricity from your solar system during the day and releases it in the evening, when the panels have stopped. A battery inverter manages the charging and discharging. Emergency backup is a separate function: a battery installed with backup capability and a dedicated backup circuit can keep selected circuits running when the grid goes down. Which circuits those are is decided with the installer at quote, and a battery without that circuit will not back anything up. Battery storage is step 03 of our ten-step order, after 02 Solar PV and before 04 EV charger.
What it is worth
From $2,100 a year on bills, with solar and a battery
Source: energy.gov.au, How solar pays itself and batteries reduce bills
Assumes a 6 kW solar system with a battery and an average household.
Your own result depends on how much solar you export today, your evening use and your tariff.
What an installer must hold
Installers provide a licence and accreditation number before they can take a job. For battery storage that means SAA accreditation and a Queensland electrical contractor licence.
What to expect from a quote
Up to three installers quote on a residential job. Ask each installer to set out battery make, model and usable capacity in kWh, the battery inverter, whether backup is included and which circuits it covers, where the battery will be mounted, any switchboard work, the product and workmanship warranty terms, what is excluded, and the install date. One enquiry, up to three quotes from local installers.
Start with a plan
Tell us about your solar, your evenings and what you need to stay on in an outage. Get your plan, then ask for quotes.
See also
02 Solar PV. 04 EV charger.