A family living in Thurgoona, NSW, a suburb of Albury, has discovered just how much money they can save by installing solar panels combined with energy storage batteries.
According to a report in the Border Mail, the solar plus battery strategy means that not only has the family’s electricity bills have been completely slashed, they have gone into credit.
This is because the renewable energy system installed in the home generates more electricity during summer than they can use. The family also uses the credit as a buffer for the times they may need to draw power from the grid.
The solar panels installed in the home generate about 30 kWh of energy during sunny weather. This is more than the household needs each day.
A Tesla Powerwall battery was installed to store the excess, to be drawn on as needed. Any extra beyond that is fed back to the grid, earning the household a feed-in tariff.
Solar plus battery is increasingly affordable
Combining solar panels with battery storage is becoming increasingly popular across NSW, and Australia. The cost of both components is coming down, which means these renewable energy systems can pay for themselves more quickly than before.
Last year, for instance, A Current Affair reported on how solar plus batteries can reduce household energy bills by as much as 90 per cent.
ACA also found that a solar energy system could pay for itself within three to five years. This is less than half the time it took just a few years ago. This is largely because prices have more than halved from what they were eight or so years ago.
How Tesla Powerwall technology works
The battery system installed in the Thurgoona, NSW home was a Tesla Powerwall. The newer Tesla Powerwall 2 has a capacity of 13.5 kWh of usable stored energy. It also comes with a 10-year warranty and is maintenance-free.
The battery works by taking DC electricity generated by solar panels and converting it to AC. Surplus energy can be stored and used to recharge the battery itself. Up to ten Powerwall 2 batteries can be installed together if more stored energy is required.
A set up of this type means you can use battery-stored energy when the sun is not out, and draw on the grid only when necessary.
Depending on the situation, this could over time result in achieving the dream of totally free electricity from sunlight!
Check out Energy Matters’ battery calculator to see how you can make use of solar batteries.
