Having installed Powerwall 1 batteries, we were expecting a fairly complicated physical installation and wiring process as Powerwall 1 wasn’t designed to be very easy to install. Tesla have moved the design on massively so that Powerwall 2 is now much more compact even though it has about double the capacity. It is easier to mount on a wall or floor-standing and the connections are much, much easier to access and connect. The first installation in Winchester took a bit longer than we had anticipated as the online commissioning process was a bit fiddly but it was completed within a day. Tesla are continually working to streamline it and 2 days later when we installed the second battery, the process went quite smoothly with the entire installation and commissioning completed by mid-afternoon.

Both of these batteries were installed along with Photovoltaic systems and it was very nice to see the battery charging up during the day with the PV power. At over 13kWh, the batteries will run both properties overnight comfortably and should allow the customers to become effectively off-grid for several months of the year.

We expect the take up of batteries to increase over time and  Tesla Powerwall 2 is doing a fantastic job of leading the charge to a renewable future.

Within the next 12 months, we are expecting to see “virtual power plant” companies setting up who will offer to “rent” a small proportion of a clients battery capacity. The VPP company will be able to remotely charge and discharge a proportion of the battery in several thousand properties creating the same effect as switching on a gas, diesel or other fossil fuel large scale power plant to provide power when the National grid experiences a high demand. This is the start of a national smart-grid and the rental payments to battery owners will make home storage even more appealing.” 

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Powerwall is a home battery system that turns your home’s solar panels into an all day resource – increasing self-consumption of solar – while also offering backup in the event of an outage. The Powerwall enables more of your home’s electricity use to come from solar, which enhances solar functionality, and reduces energy costs.

Please email us on julie@h2-eco.com to register an interest.

There has been a lot of discussion about battery storage in the media recently. Battery storage is the holy-grail, aiming to solve the ongoing conundrum of how to make best use of PV production which happens during the middle of the day when the maximum demand tends to be early and late.

Companies like SolaX have been producing and selling inverter/battery systems for a while to help deal with these issues and maximise the benefits to end-users. At H2ecO, we have been keeping a keen eye on the options and have recently become one of the first certified Tesla Powerwall battery system installers in the area. We completed our first installation a few weeks ago and early results are excellent. The battery is being pretty much fully utilised every day. It is shifting over 7kWh of electricity for use by the client, as opposed to that electricity being exported with no financial benefit. If that continued for the whole year, the savings would equate to roughly (365 x 7 x £.16)= £409.  The Tesla systems currently cost about £4300 inc vat for customers who already have a Solar Edge Inverter. This equates to a return on investment of about 9%. The batteries are guaranteed for 10 years and should last much longer.

The Tesla Powerwall offers far superior performance to a base SolaX system with a 2 kWh battery. SolaX batteries charge quickly in the morning but tend to discharge by around 1am in an average 4 bedroom house. Of course the SolaX battery system can be upgraded by adding extra batteries to get the system capacity up to 6 or 8 kWh. If you have a solaX system that is cycling too fast, H2ecO can help look at options for adding battery capacity to the existing system. This would not be necessary with Tesla; the larger capacity of the Tesla Powerwall means that it can supply electricity long after other systems would be fully drained.

For any existing SolarEdge users, we would be delighted to carry out a site visit to see if a Tesla Powerwall would be suitable for your home or business.   They are very flexible as they can be located outside or inside, and as their advanced thermal control system does produce some noise we can help work out the best position in your premises. To book a free consultation, please Get in Touch >

 

 

Battery Storage Maintenance

In the last week, we were called to troubleshoot a SolaX system installed by a local company that has gone bust and found that the battery system had not been configured correctly for over a year and had not charged or discharged during that time. A 2 hour site visit sorted the problem and the system is now working very well with the battery cycling once or twice during the day – as it is a smaller 3.6kWh unit.

If you have an existing battery storage system make sure it is working efficiently; give us a call on 01202 918486 to arrange a service.

Click to learn more about Battery Storage>