I have an additional 14.3kw battery on order from Fogstar at about the same price ..... yes i have to assemble it myself and top balance the cells when they arrive but having previously gone through the same process i can say its not at all complicated !

@misterb I’ll try to keep this short(er than it might otherwise be), when I had my solar PV installed, I had to wait some months for the Tesla Powerwall to be added - I had the gateway at PV installation time. I had enquired about a second Powerwall at the time of ordering the PV kit but was told I ought to wait and see how I got on with the first when installed as they didn’t think it wise (economically) with just 8.1 kWp of solar. I insisted that with an ASHP under consideration, I wanted to have all the options so that I could make the decision for myself! After several weeks of waiting for a response from the installer (silence) I contacted them again and explained I DID want a second battery anyway and it was my choice; they emailed back that they would enquire from my DNO about permission to add a second… I waited months to hear that they had my Powerwall coming and that they could install it in Early November. I enquired about the second …. Haven’t heard back from the DNO yet they said. I had been told if they could install the second battery at the same time, they would carry it out as one installation and I wouldn’t have to wait for the second. Come the install day, one Powerwall was fitted and the following day I had an email informing me that with certain export limitations, the DNO had agreed the day before and were happy for us to install a second. I immediately asked if they could fit the second then and was told that stock had gone and the best they could offer was an install with January 2024 being the earliest! Oh and by the way, the price was some £2000 more for the additional battery than the first plus Gateway and installation cost! If I wanted the second, please pay 25% now and go on the waiting list - I declined their so generous offer!!!  Some months later, the company who installed our ASHP were doing a battery promotion to recent customers … I found that they were able to supply a Powerwall within weeks and £2000 cheaper than my Solar PV installer - I now have 27 kW/h capacity. 🙂 Regards, Toodles.

We are benefiting from the lower value of the Chinese Yuan.

But it's also possible that Chinese state is intervening to reduce/subsidise the costs of transportation.
Shipping costs on Lithium cells are much lower than last year, despite the fact that they will be buying fuel on the open market.

As a communist country, the leadership can react quickly to shore up their economy.

Whatever is the cause, now is definitely the time to be importing battery storage direct from the Far East.

Stockists in Europe will also have to respond.
They'll have product sitting on the shelves which was bought when prices were much higher.

Posted by: @transparent

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We are benefiting from the lower value of the Chinese Yuan.

But it's also possible that Chinese state is intervening to reduce/subsidise the costs of transportation.
Shipping costs on Lithium cells are much lower than last year, despite the fact that they will be buying fuel on the open market.

As a communist country, the leadership can react quickly to shore up their economy.

Whatever is the cause, now is definitely the time to be importing battery storage direct from the Far East.

Stockists in Europe will also have to respond.
They'll have product sitting on the shelves which was bought when prices were much higher.

It could be that the Chinese are getting loads of cheap oil from Russia.

@derek-m …and inside everyone of those cells is a miniature diesel generator connected to a tank of cheap oil… (sorry;-) )

Does anyone have any recommendations of specific batteries that are compatible with SolarEdge systems? I installed a SolarEdge PV system about a year ago, including an Energy Bank battery (9.7kWh), but find that that ideally I could do with more storage. However, I don’t really need an additional 9.7kWh, and baulk at paying over £8,000 for another Energy Bank, so ideally I’d like to find a smaller battery that is compatible.

Speak to Becs at Fogstar, check their website first ...

They have a few different solutions, and although you say you don't need an additional 9.7kw, for the price they charge it might be worth getting a larger capacity for future proofing

Posted by: @alan_w

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I don’t really need an additional 9.7kWh, and baulk at paying over £8,000 for another Energy Bank, so ideally I’d like to find a smaller battery that is compatible.

Let me say up front that Solar Edge have developed a high quality technical solution which increases the amount of energy you can draw from your solar panels.
This uses an Optimizer on each panel, and a matching SE inverter.

Once you start with a Solar Edge PV system, you're basically committing yourself to keep with that technology.
It's rather like buying your first cordless electric drill; once you have that first battery and charger, you're most likely to go out and buy another tool which can use the same battery.

Solar Edge sell a 'Key' which allows their technology to work with 3rd-party inverters... and hence generic batteries connected to those inverters.

What I don't know is whether you can also retain the existing Solar Edge inverter and 9.7kWh Energy Bank when using that key.
You need to check this for yourself.

If that is possible, then you could, for example, keep the existing SE inverter/battery combination, which allows export to the grid,
and add another inverter/battery which directly supplies household appliances 'off-grid'.

That needs early consideration because it's likely that the G99 approval you have from your DNO has already accounted for the maximum permitted 3.68kW export.

By way of comparison, if you took the DIY route to install an off-grid inverter/battery, then you should be able to set up a 5kW hybrid inverter and 14kWh battery for around £4000.

I won't post more detail here until you've checked out what that SE Key can do for you.

Thanks for the reply, I’ll check out the SE Key.

I must admit that if I’d installed the system again I probably wouldn’t go for SolarEdge. We used an installer that is well known in our area, and has a good reputation, but they only seem to install SolarEdge & Fronius systems. We’ve had a lot of issues with the SolarEdge system, I’m not sure why it’s considered a premium system. The most recent issue is that the battery has just been randomly “freezing”, ie neither charging nor discharging. I think it’s a software issue rather than anything inherently wrong with the hardware. They seem to be gradually iterating to software that works as I’d originally anticipated it would, but it’s been a long haul. I still don’t get proper data displays - sometimes the bar-charts are just blank.

Anyway, that’s all a digression, but partly explains why I don’t want to reward SolarEdge by paying over-the-odds for another one of their batteries.

MisterB, thanks for this, I’ll check them out.

All done now, 13kW storage. But the installer forgot to include a 125A DC MCB to the new battery, so a percentage of the cost withheld and they’re coming back to do the job compliant to MCS.