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Battery vs grid storage

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6 minutes ago, RobC said:

Good morning, I need to choose what is more efficient use of energy storage : pushing back to grid or charging batteries.

Not enough info I think to give a definitive answer.

Pushing back to the grid is not storage, it's trading with the power utility. Whether it makes financial sense depends on the terms and conditions in your location, but energy efficiency is good.

Battery storage efficiency depends on your batteries and inverter, and number of conversion stages before the battery.

  • Author

Hi Greenfields, I can push back to the grid 1:1 credit to my account, I was just wondering which is more efficient use of excess solar power . I have a Deye hybrid inverter and Shoto batteries. Possibly the batteries because they are charged with the DC from the panels?

To confirm, your feed in tariff is the same as what you pay for electricity, if so, then , in my opinion feed in is better, as there are inefficiencies in charging/discharging batteries

  • Author

Tariq, correct, I was not sure if the inefficiency converting to AC was more than the charging conversion (if there is any ?), but then there is also the conversion back - which for the grid is nothing as there is no conversion vs battery DC has to be converted to AC.

 

51 minutes ago, RobC said:

Hi Greenfields, I can push back to the grid 1:1 credit to my account, I was just wondering which is more efficient use of excess solar power . I have a Deye hybrid inverter and Shoto batteries. Possibly the batteries because they are charged with the DC from the panels?

I just don't know where in SA this is still permitted, assuming you are locally-based. More common around here is some fixed portion, asymmetrical crediting, and/or TOU. But technically the export to grid is more efficient than storage, if you just ensure to still run your batteries down regularly, don't keep it at 100% permanently.

  • Author

I am in an estate which has a bulk feed from the Municipality and each house has its own meter, so the houses that have solar are really just reducing the bulk feed needed for the estate. Of course this only works when we are not loadshedding.

I am also not sure how the inverter charges batteries - I presume there is no AC involved.

On 2024/07/28 at 11:09 AM, RobC said:

I am in an estate which has a bulk feed from the Municipality and each house has its own meter, so the houses that have solar are really just reducing the bulk feed needed for the estate. Of course this only works when we are not loadshedding.

I am also not sure how the inverter charges batteries - I presume there is no AC involved.

Just make sure you don't have a meter that does not deduct export as it could then use export as actual use and get a nasty surprise the 1st month. 

Your current inverter can be set to do it with export/sell as priority before charging the battery. 

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