5 Things You Should Know Before Installing Solar Panel Batteries In Your Home
Switching to solar technology to power your home can be a rocky transition. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as flipping a switch. Powering your home with solar technology requires preparation, planning, and realism. Before going all the way to converting to a greener lifestyle, consider a few things, like whether your home can be sustained by it, and the reasons why you should commit. Surprisingly, installing and using renewable energy sources doesn't always save on energy bills. Some people don't realize that the financial costs of solar technology are still considered steep, and the high upfront costs don't always pay off until many, many years later.
When your plan is to use solar power, you have two choices. You can install solar panels, use solar batteries as a standalone source for converting solar energy into power, or you can use both; and in some cases, you need both. Solar batteries are often paired with panels, especially if you're trying to cut out grid electricity usage.
That's because solar batteries can store the excess energy generated by solar panel systems. Technically, you can use solar batteries without solar panels; they can be installed in off-grid or hybrid systems. In hybrid systems, you don't need to install solar panels. Instead, they can be charged directly from the electrical grid. Some people go this route because it provides a secure backup in case of an outage. But how you choose to set up solar batteries does matter, and here's why.
Know that solar technology is a long-term investment
While solar panels and solar batteries have become more affordable, going green can still get expensive. That's why you should know exactly what it could potentially cost you before you commit to installing your full setup. A man in Ontario, Canada, for example, spent $50K on solar panels ($40K to install and $10K in repairs) only to find out they didn't save him any money in a reasonable time frame he'd need to wait over 40 years to break even with his investment (via CTV News). He was also not covered by his insurance.
Looking back at his investment, he realized that it can also affect the resale of the home, since not all homebuyers will want to deal with solar panels. That's why looking ahead is important, even if you have just bought the panels and have yet to install them. In retrospect, you should always re-assess all the finances before deciding to go all in.
Naturally, the next step is adding solar batteries to your setup (since solar panels don't come with solar batteries). If you don't buy solar panel batteries outright, you'll need to make monthly payments to make owning them more affordable. Otherwise, expect to pay another few grand on top of everything else. On the bright side, outside of the short-term financial strain, once installed, most solar systems are easy to manage, so you don't need to worry about inferring additional costs to routinely maintain it. For your solar panel batteries, you'll want to take a state-of-charge reading semi-regularly, just to check that your batteries can still hold a charge.
Evaluate your current home's energy needs
Some people invest in solar technology to cut down on bills. They'll double up on solar panels with solar batteries to try to get the biggest bang for their buck, and while it may seem optional for some setups, it is necessary to install both. It all depends on how much energy your home is consuming.
In the Homeowner's Guide to Solar, one question is always about financial viability, and also whether paying for all of it is truly worth it. Though the guide doesn't explicitly say, it does touch on factors like how much you could potentially save and how that all depends on your energy consumption, the solar energy system size, whether you bought or leased the system, and how much power it can generate. Large households with high energy needs also mean solar batteries need to be installed to keep up.
