Battery Storage System: Stanway, Colchester

Location

Stanway, Colchester, Essex.

Description of works 

In September 2015 we were approached by our client regarding a Solar PV Installation for their house.

LED Solar (a trading name of LED Electrical Group Limited) installed a 16 panel system for them. During the initial survey we recommended the installation of a battery storage system to maximise the usage of the electricity produced by the PV system. Even though we recommended a battery storage system to our client we also advised them that the prices were expected to reduce dramatically over the coming months due to the reduction in FiT.

The benefits of having electricity storage with a solar PV system are as follows:

  • Electricity, instead of being exported back to the grid, is stored in a battery system for later use when the PV system is not producing.
  • Depending on the type of battery system installed, it is possible even for a grid tied battery set, to provide a Unique Power Supply function (UPS) for specific circuits such as lighting etc which is useful in the event of power cuts.
  • For a domestic system (up to 4kW) even though the electricity is stored in the batteries, you will still be paid the same export tariffs as if it had been exported to the grid.
  • As the export tariff is made up of a calculated figure of 50% on the total amount generated and not measured, you could store all the electricity that would normally be exported to the grid, yet still receive your calculated export tariff (the FiT is made up of 2 payments, the generation tariff which is calculated on 100% of all electricity you produce and the export tariff which is calculated on 50% of everything you produce).
  • The battery systems that LED Electrical install come with full internet monitoring. We as a company will monitor any system we install on our customers behalf, the internet access also provides the customer with full historic data of the battery system performance. The Victron batteries have a 10 year warranty.

Our client was so impressed with the performance of the Solar PV installation they recently asked us to re-survey their property, this time with a view to the installation of a battery storage system. Following the survey we recommended a Victron Hub 4 storage system which would best suite their requirements.

The whole battery storage system took just under three hours to install and the clients are extremely happy with it.