Hold off on home batteries for now, says expert

If you get a cold call with exciting news about solar panels that feed electricity into a battery that will power your home and possibly make you money, treat it with extreme caution. That’s the advice from a firm at the forefront of the technology, which will soon become mainstream.

York-based SRS Work, which specialises in energy equipment and solutions, has developed its own battery and sophisticated software and says that while it makes good financial sense for commercial buildings, social housing developments, community energy clubs and perhaps for running an electric car, it isn’t yet

financially viable for most single dwellings.

“Unless you are in an area where there are a lot of power outages or you really want to be more self-sufficient and are happy to pay for it, then the pay-back numbers don’t yet add up for most households, especially if they include three to four people,” says Peter Cowan of SRS.

A small domestic system of solar voltaic panels and a battery for a four-bedroom house costs about £10,000. Peter’s advice to homeowners is to wait until next year. That’s when the Government is expected to announce a detailed strategy and possible incentives schemes to get us generating our own solar energy and storing it in home batteries for our own use while selling any excess back to the National Grid.

Business Secretary Greg Clark last week laid the foundations for change when he reiterated the Government’s commitment to spend £246m in research funding for home battery technology and to make changes to energy regulation. Ofgem says that the changes, which will come in over the next 18 months, will decentralise the energy supply system and will also encourage tech-savvy businesses into the energy market.

SRS is one of those companies thanks to software that enables it to aggregate solar power and sell it to the National Grid for the optimum price.

“One of the driving forces behind the Government’s interest in home electricity generation and storage is electric cars. We’ll all have them eventually and most of us will be plugging them in to recharge between 6pm and 7pm. That would be unsustainable as the grid is already at 99 per cent-plus capacity.

“One of the uses for power generated by solar and stored in batteries could be for charging cars,” says Peter, who is concerned that “cowboys” have already spotted the opportunity to jump on the battery bandwagon.

The solar panels industry was plagued with poor operators keen to make a fast buck by tempting customers with government feed-in-tariffs. They fitted poor quality systems on homes that were unsuitable, while undercutting respectable firms.

Peter warns: “I can see that happening again with the panels and home batteries. Beware of the hard sell and anyone who trades on fear and tells you the lights are going to go out.

“You also need to watch out for misselling and operators who fit a 2.2kw Chinese system that can only run a one-bedroom flat for an hour. The other issue is that not all homes are suitable. They have to be south-facing.”

SRS is at the forefront of the battery controls innovation and has had success with its Powercore system. The battery technology is nothing new but the software that makes it most effective is an SRS invention. The integrated system maximises usage efficiency, along with the return when selling excess energy back to the grid.

The company is working with housing associations, which already have solar panels fitted to their homes, to install home batteries that cut residents bills by half and feed excess energy back into the grid.

“I think the small domestic systems will be viable soon but if anyone tries to sell you a system right now I’d say bide your time,” says Peter.

In the meantime, he suggests changing all lightbulbs for 3 watt LEDs. “It’s simple and it makes a huge difference to energy usage and bills. We do it for a lot of commercial clients and the savings are phenomenal.”

*www.powercorenergy.co.uk; www.SRSworks.co.uk