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Adding battery storage to SolarEdge PV system

 
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Last Post by JamesPa 28 minutes ago
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 JamesPa
(@jamespa)
Illustrious Member Moderator
Joined: 2 years ago
Posts: 2593
28/06/2025 1:52 pm  

Posted by: @transparent
↑

How much can you trust Capture Energy without being able to inspect and check its (confidential) supply and stand-by contracts?

I don't, and in fairness they aren't yet including any income from Grid Flexibility services in their projections of battery payback. 

They do however include a significant amount of arbitrage, about twice the income from exporting PV.  Basically their calculations assume you fill a 20-30kWh battery at low cost night and discharge it to the grid (in summer), or to your house (in winter), during the day (or the equivalent if you have an agile tarif). 

With my current tariff (6.7p (midnight-7am), 25p (7am-mindnigh), and 16.5p export) and use pattern I still cant make the business case work at GBP 400-500/kWh for the storage though, so wont be buying.

This post was modified 1 hour ago by JamesPa
This post was modified 55 minutes ago by JamesPa

4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.


   
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Transparent
 Transparent
(@transparent)
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Joined: 3 years ago
Posts: 2426
28/06/2025 2:10 pm  

Posted by: @jamespa
↑

I still cant make the business case work at GBP 400-500/kWh for the storage though, so wont be buying.

I think @nazuro1041 needs to note this !

There's a lot of capital outlay to install a storage battery and inverter.
There's no certainty of recouping that through tariffs which could change with less than 6-months notice.

Of course, if you joined in with a Community Energy initiative, and had a share in a 3-phase storage battery asset, then the financial viability could change for the better.

Save energy... recycle electrons!


   
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 JamesPa
(@jamespa)
Illustrious Member Moderator
Joined: 2 years ago
Posts: 2593
28/06/2025 2:29 pm  

Posted by: @transparent
↑

econdly, there are no Nodal Pricing Tariffs yet available (outside of Community Energy schemes).
The Sec of State for Energy has twice changed his mind on "Zonal Pricing" in the first 6-months of 2025, under pressure from No.10.
Regardless of the underlying technical arguments, politicians are only evaluating the political consequences.

Sadly I fear that they may well be right to do so.  

Now that the cross party consensus on net zero has disappeared, and in the current febrile political environment, any policy (particularly a complex one with a highly technical justification) that is even faintly connected to net zero and which is capable of being spun as a 'postcode lottery', or worse still, as 'penalising hard working brits to fund illegal immigrants' risks helping to hand a victory at the next election to those who would undo all the good work that is currently underway towards reducing our carbon emissions.

Nodal pricing presumably introduces sufficient variation across the country that any bent statistician worth his (or her) salt can find an explosive example which does indeed penalise an area with predominantly 'hard working brits' while helping an area with a higher proportion of immigrants.  Even if they cant it wouldn't matter, they would just make it up anyway, and on the back of that an exaggerated claim will appear on the front page/as the lead story of certain media outlets

It may well be in the long term interests of the planet to concede such divisive matters at the current time, even if it makes no technical sense.  

Its a very sad position that we have reached, but politicians must deal with political reality as well as science/engineering and, however well intentioned and logical they may be, its no use at all if their work is undone in a few years time.

This post was modified 23 minutes ago by JamesPa
This post was modified 21 minutes ago by JamesPa

4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.


   
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