Batteries for Solar Power Systems

When installing a new solar energy system – a lot of people ask, “Do I also need batteries in addition to my solar array?

The answer is: “Maybe.” While the cost of batteries is still relatively expensive, prices continue to drop, and the peace of mind they can offer is often priceless. If you are prone to power outages, experience frequent inclement weather or are affected by major storms, then batteries may be right for you.

How Solar Batteries Can Help

When you use a battery as part of your overall solar PV system, you can store the excess electricity your panels produce and store it for later use. The higher the capacity of the battery, the more solar power you can store.

Batteries work by using some of the power produced by your solar panels to charge your battery. The DC electricity produced by the solar panels is converted to AC power by a standard solar inverter or microinverters. This inverter supplies the solar electricity to your home. Excess electricity is routed to  the battery, converted back to DC, and saved for future use. Just like a solar inverter is needed to convert the DC power to AC power, stored power in the battery is converted to AC power before it is used to power your home. Note: some batteries contain inverters integrated within the system. When a battery is installed – you may still send electricity back to the grid (in grid-tied systems). This only occurs when your battery is fully charged and your home does not consume all of the electricity produced by the solar panels.

At Hilton Head Solar, we design battery systems to provide power to the essential items in your home that need to operate in the case of a power outage. To remain cost-effective, we like to design our battery systems to handle emergency dedicated circuits first. Dedicated circuits such as your refrigerator, security system, internet router, a few kitchen receptacles, hallway and outdoor lights, and your water pump. While we would all like the batteries to be able to offset your cooling and heating loads – the power demands of most common cooling and heating systems cannot be supported by a standard battery system.

Whether you’re preparing for intermittent power outages, storm recovery or overall electricity system failure, our battery solutions can power your critical needs.

Recommended Solar Power Storage Options:

When we compare the cost of electricity purchased from the power company to the cost of electricity from solar, we find that the cost of electricity from solar is consistently less than the local power company. The cost of electricity from solar doesn’t go up every year like your power company bills do.

Hilton Head Solar & Roofing is a Certified Generac Installer.

PWRcell provides up to 10kW of surge power, enough to start an air conditioner or sump pump. Access up to 8kW of continuous output, plenty to run most homes. Each PWRcell battery is easily configurable from 8.6 kWh to 17.1 kWh to meet any budget or lifestyle.

ENERGY SAVINGS AND SECURITY
Generac PWRcell is an intelligent energy storage system. Equipped with PWRview energy monitoring technology, PWRcell protects you during times of power outage and allows you to control your energy usage to save on utility costs.
  • Get through the night on stored solar
  • Protect what’s important, home and family, during power outages
  • Lower energy bills and avoid peak rates
  • Gain greater independence from the grid

 

With the optional PWRview app, easily keep tabs on your energy consumption, monitor your battery usage, and track your savings!
  • Get real-time understanding of your energy use
  • View dashboards for daily consumption, solar generation and battery usage along with bill estimates and savings.
  • Keep energy spending in check with detailed bill tracking, forecast and history.
For homes that require a small amount of power during power outages, SMA has an option for you. They provide inverters featuring a Secure Power Supply (SPS). The SPS will provide up to 15 amps of power to a dedicated outlet. This dedicated outlet can provide power to grid-tied systems during an outage. The SPS can be used while the solar power system is able to produce electricity. This means it will only work in daylight hours when the sun is shining. An SPS provides you with a lower cost power supply without investing in more expensive batteries

Hilton Head Solar & Roofing is a Certified Sungrow Installer

Sungrow offers a wide range of storage solutions ranging from 3.6 kW to 2.5 MW to satisfy most requirements and needs. Using clean energy during the day is no longer a major challenge. However, to enjoy clean power also in the evening and at night storage systems are needed. 

Areas Served

South Carolina

  • Beaufort County
  • Charleston County
  • Lexington County
  • Richland County
  • Georgetown County
  • Dorchester County
  • Florence County
  • Horry County
  • Greenville County
  • Aiken County
  • Jasper County
  • Greenwood County

Georgia

  • Chatham County
  • Effingham County
  • Bryan County
  • Screven County
  • Sumter County
  • Bulloch County
  • Richmond County
  • McIntosh County
  • Long County
  • Liberty County
  • Candler County
  • Jenkins County
  • Burke County
  • Wayne County

Getting Started is Easy!

Call Hilton Head Solar TODAY at
for your complimentary solar evaluation.
It only takes 15 minutes to find out if solar is right for you.