Home Solar Energy Solutions in the UK: How to Combine Solar Panels With Advanced Battery Storage

The rising electricity costs in the UK are pushing homeowners to invest in their very own solar panels. But did you know that with just one additional piece of hardware, you can upgrade your home solar energy system for further cost savings? Find out how to maximise your solar panels by pairing them with a solar battery.

Solar panel installations in the UK are picking up speed, motivated by the need to cut down electricity expenses, which have been on the rise lately. Oftentimes, that means depending less on the grid or living of fit, and switching to renewable energy options like home solar energy systems. Upfront costs aside, you can say they are worth the money because of their benefits, even beyond electricity savings.

Pairing up solar panels with an advanced battery storage is one of those investments that would benefit any UK household. With this system in place, you can store the excess energy incurred by your solar panels within the day instead of it going to waste, then use your battery storage to power up your home for free—especially during peak hours or power outages.

The UK government particularly shows support by slashing VAT on domestic solar panel installation to zero percent (0%), and giving people the option to get paid by selling excess electricity to the grid through the Smart Export Guarantee(SEG) program.

A residential solar energy system, complete with a solar battery works pretty straightforward. Your solar panels convert sunlight into direct current (DC) electricity. The inverter receives this and converts it to alternating current (AC) electricity, which is what is used to power your home.

Then, whatever excess energy is available becomes automatically stored in your solar battery for later use.

This becomes especially helpful if your solar panels are not generating enough for the household, say during nighttime or stormy weather. Because if you have battery storage in your arsenal, you wouldn’t have to depend on the grid in times of need, limiting the instances of having to connect to it during peak hours, which can be costly.

Advanced battery storage systems such as EcoFlow’s Power Ocean make a good case for why solar and battery systems are better off together. For one, since it is built with the kind of technology that harvests the maximum amount of available solar power regardless of the weather conditions, it affords your household continued, dependable power generation. Experienced a blackout? PowerOcen can deliver up to 6kW of continuous off-grid power.

No need to worry about overheating, too, because it can make real-time adjustments based on cell health and temperature.

A good starting point in deciding the scale of your residential solar installation is knowing how much energy your household uses on an average day, based on the number of people at home.

A common recommendation:

• 1–2 person household: ~2–3 kW panels, 3–5 kWh battery
• 3–4 person household: ~4–6 kW panels, 8–12 kWh battery

It is crucial to consider the seasonal variation in UK sunlight as well, where there’s less daylight during winter. Not to mention other weather conditions that would limit your access to sunlight.

If you are new to owning a solar battery, consider getting an expandable battery storage.

EcoFlow’s Power Ocean, aside from its ability to maximise sunlight no matter the weather, has an expandable battery capacity. Start off from a 5kWh pack, then observe how it fares with your household’s energy consumption and weather conditions.

Should you find it lacking, you can always upgrade your storage up to 45kWh, depending on your needs.

A solar panel can cost £1,650 to £2,025 per kW, although you can expect larger solar energy systems to cost a bit less than smaller ones, like 3kW. The final price depends on the type and efficacy of your preferred solar panel, the complexity of its installation, and labour costs.

In terms of home battery, price ranges from £2,500 up to £10,000, depending on capacity, technology, and whether it will be connected to a new solar panel system or an existing one, which could be more expensive.

To offset the overall costs, the UK government has made the move to eliminate the Value Added Tax (VAT) on the installation of energy-saving materials such as home solar energy systems. Funding options such as ECO4, Warm Homes Plan, and Solar Together are also made available to further slash prices and encourage more UK homeowners to make the switch.

Wondering about your possible payback period? It takes most UK homes an average of 8 to 12 years. But several factors are at play here—initial installation cost, energy consumption, and availability of income from the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) program. Knowing what these are could give you a better idea of your own timeline.

Overall safety of the installation of your home solar energy system is hinged on your installer. So the first thing you want to make sure of is that he or she is accredited under the ​​Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS)—the UK's quality assurance standard.

Prior to the actual solar panels installation in the UK, expect your MCS-accredited installer to conduct structural assessment and electrical checks to ensure that everything in the house is predisposed to the residential solar installation.

Primarily, your roof must be strong enough to hold your solar panels, and your electrical wiring must be compliant with the IET Wiring Regulations (BS 7671), which is the UK’s national standard for the design, installation, and maintenance of electrical installations.

Finally, see to it that your installer notifies your local grid manager—Distribution Network Operator (DNO)—of the installation for everyone else’s safety, not only of your household.

The main goal of having a battery in your home solar energy system is to increase possible financial savings and power up your household continuously, even during power interruptions.

To get the most out of battery storage, make sure to check on the following features before deciding on one:

• Usable capacity (kWh): Be mindful of the battery’s actual usable capacity, versus its declared total capacity, which will always be larger. A battery's usable capacity is determined by its Depth of Discharge (DoD), like how a battery with a 10 kWh total capacity and a 90% DoD will have a usable capacity of only 9 kWh.
• Cycle life: Copping a battery with a minimum of 6,000 cycle life would already do you good in the long run, say for a decade or more. And for added peace of mind, go for a battery that is covered by at least a 10-year warranty, among other warranty terms.
• Round-trip efficiency: This key metric measures the battery’s energy waste upon use. The higher the round-trip efficiency percentage, the less solar energy is wasted. Modern,reliablebatteryoptions could measure up as high as 90% to 95%.
• Compatibility with solar inverter: Will your chosen battery integrate well with your solar inverter? It must be for safety’s sake, whether it will be AC-coupled or DC-coupled. A fool-proof option is going for an integrated home solar energy system from a single manufacturer, which is offered by brands like EcoFlow.

What might be the best solar energy solutions for homes today are products you can easily integrate with an Energy Management System(EMS). With EMS, homeowners can freely monitor and automate energy consumption, resulting in cost-efficiency.

Take, for instance, a smart solar battery like EcoFlow PowerOcean: This is built to connect to an EMS such as PowerInsight, a home energy monitor from the same brand.

Through the app, be able to monitor the amount of power your solar panels are generating and where it’s going, then track your monthly and yearly data. Optimise your home's energy use too and reduce energy bills by maximising your battery storage and reducing grid dependency.

For extra savings, take advantage of its automatic climate adjustment afforded by its built-in temperature sensor.

EcoFlow PowerInsight also ensures that your energy export levels stay within the limit given by your local grid management. It can also get you paid by allowing your grid operator to draw power from your battery in times of city-wide demand.

You are already in the midst of making the switch; might as well go for the smart and integrated home solar energy system.

Have an MCS-certified installer first check your system’s compatibility with battery storage.

Solar panels alone generate energy for daytime use; paired with a battery, excess energy can be stored for later use.

It mainly depends on your household consumption.

Yes, but you would be storing grid power instead of solar energy.