As we know here, the success or not of plug-in storage is extremely dependent on the ease of installation.
That is of paramount importance for the majority of the population, who will have little idea which of their 13A sockets are on which ring circuit.

In the meantime, the cost of hardware required for storage continues to fall.
If plug-in storage becomes too difficult to understand or implement, such that prospective customers have to employ an electrician anyway, then you might as well opt for a larger battery+inverter to be hardwired.

The most common LiFePO4 cell, with guaranteed 280Ah capacity, can now be purchased for £43.50 + carriage & VAT.

That was £76 just nine months ago.

These are prices for stock already held in Poland.

Since the military action in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, the Chinese sellers have learnt fast. They've established warehouse bases which are isolated from delays and uncertainty over maritime shipping. Their products can now be supplied faster and cheaper, using European courier companies we are already familiar with, like DHL.

This puts pressure on DESNZ to ensure that plug-in storage really does have ease-of-use, and can work seamlessly alongside a couple of plug-in solar kits.

If it comes with "strings attached" resulting in many homes still needing professional installation, or if the capacity and rates of output (800w?) become too constrained, then there are going to be a number of competitors who will step into the void left by the demise of GivEnergy.

It doesn't cost much more for an electrician to install a 5kW all-in-one inverter/battery unit than it does to hardwire a plug-in storage kit because the red-tape became too onerous for suppliers or consumers.

Posted by: @transparent

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As we know here, the success or not of plug-in storage is extremely dependent on the ease of installation.
That is of paramount importance for the majority of the population, who will have little idea which of their 13A sockets are on which ring circuit.

Absolutely agree, the more of the useless red tape they can remove, the bigger the potential market will be. 

When looking at the cost of combined battery + inverter for "plug-in" in the UK, there's no advantage to use it (vs the 50V battery packs), unless red tape is massively reduced. By that I mean no MCS and if electricians are needed to deal with it that it is made as simple as for an oven connection.  

Posted by: @transparent

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It doesn't cost much more for an electrician to install a 5kW all-in-one inverter/battery unit than it does to hardwire a plug-in storage kit because the red-tape became too onerous for suppliers or consumers.

Yup, I was given an estimate of £3200 just for the labour and regs part... I spent a fraction but that was using a very narrow path to get to a good port.   

Posted by: @batpred

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Absolutely agree, the more of the useless red tape they can remove, the bigger the potential market will be. 

So what's the bet that the established installation industry, and in particular MCS, is campaigning for as much red tape as possible, citing largely spurious safety concerns as they did in an attempt to cancel plug in altogether?

The scales aren't evenly balanced.  The Government has to prove them wrong, they only need to float a potential 'concern' with little or no justification.  

Hopefully previous govs have not created something that imovable, that makes future parliament be constrained by the past ones… 

There is now a new Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Miatta Fahnbulleh MP.
She previously spent 8 months at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. I hope that role has given her insight as to what the general public needs to see from her.

It's very much her final say on how Plug-in storage gets implemented.

Let's remember that her predecessor, Ed Miliband MP, took a couple of months battling against the 'weight of evidence' being put forward by professional bodies who didn't want to see themselves cut out of the loop with Plug-in Solar.

Regarding the indevolt or similar storage system. 

I'm thinking the way to run it is with Fridge, TV, PC, router etc running directly from the unit. Then in the event of a power cut you wouldn't even notice unless you tried something not connected to the unit.

All well and good for a day or so, but a prolonged cut would call for a generator.

Are there any pitfalls, need to knows concerning generator + storage battery wiring?

Posted by: @blizzardgreen

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Regarding the indevolt or similar storage system. 

I'm thinking the way to run it is with Fridge, TV, PC, router etc running directly from the unit. Then in the event of a power cut you wouldn't even notice unless you tried something not connected to the unit.

All well and good for a day or so, but a prolonged cut would call for a generator.

Are there any pitfalls, need to knows concerning generator + storage battery wiring?

The main issue is that the items you want to power are unlikely to be co-located. 

I have personally given up on implementing any back up capability, to work properly for me it would need to be via my fixed electrical wiring, and to do that requires much complexity at excessive cost.  If we experienced lots of medium length power cuts then it would be more attractive, but we dont.  The most likely events for us are a short power cut of 30mins or less, which I can survive without backup, or a lengthy one of several days, which batteries wont cover anyway.  I have a UPS on my computer to stop it crashing when there is a power cut, but thats it.

Posted by: @blizzardgreen

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All well and good for a day or so, but a prolonged cut would call for a generator.

Are there any pitfalls, need to knows concerning generator + storage battery wiring?

Some hybrid inverters like mine have a generator port. There are also control signals, so a generator can be fully driven by the inverter. 

In the Australian outback that seems to get some use. I only used that port as a second UPS (as  it can be reconfigured), and for a short time.  

Ditto - our sunsynk has all the stuff built in for backing up stuff. Obviously needs the earth rod and the like too.

SunSynk hybrid inverters also have the capability to assign one or both of the local generation inputs to accommodate a technology which isn't solar PV. The MPPT mechanism is replaced by a power-curve which is defined by the user.

An illustration of how this works with a wind-turbine is present in the earlier manuals, but absent from current editions.

Returning to the previous point by @blizzardgreen these are important points, but take us outside the scope of this Topic.

However, this Forum has previously hosted active discussions about storage battery (DIY) installation and techniques. One example is the thread Battery sizing - How low can you go?

I run my house substantially off-grid, and using self-assembled batteries. I have direct connections to the batteries which run my computers, WiFi router, lighting and security systems via DC-DC converters. These devices would continue to function even if all of my inverters failed!

If you want to explore these options further, then feel free to start a new topic.

Bear in mind what @jamespa has just said. My system is viable because I've undertaken lots of the work myself. I know we are going to be experiencing more power-cuts, and I have a fair idea of how they will occur and their likely duration. That knowledge has prompted me to build in resilience within the home, rather than hope that it will be provided by the future electricity grid.

People following this thread who are hoping that plug in batteries will come soon may be interested in the post here