Can someone please explain what "Solar Utilization Rate" means?   There is a solar website that claims that without their special home energy management system you get a 50% solar utilization rate but you get 95% utilization rate if you install their energy management system (no batteries).

It seems to me that it would be very, very difficult to achieve 95% utilization rate even with batteries let alone without batteries.

With batteries:

My argument is (maybe too) simple-  A) Your solar array produces more energy on average than your house uses, then the battery will eventually charge to 100% and you will end up sending energy into the grid.    Your solar array produces less energy on average than what your house uses and you will be drawing from the grid.  C)  Your batteries and charger are never going to be 100% efficient, there will be losses when charging and when discharging.   That's with batteries....

Now without batteries:

If your array is creating less energy than your lowest draw circuit (i.e. pool pump uses 1Kw when the array is producing only 500 watts) then you either send the 500 watts into the grid or turn on the pool pump and draw 500 watts from the grid.   With higher draw circuits such as an electric water heater drawing 3Kw, the waste is worse.   So unless your array is creating exactly what you need to run a circuit you lose, one way or another.

Please tell me how you could get a 95% utilization rate without batteries.

Regards,

Bert

Post a link to the site please.

Solar Utilization rate in my mind can refer to the percentage of energy used vs the percentage the pv panels can possibly produce, OR
It can refer to the percentage of solar power used vs grid power.  Can't find a definition for it.

In the first an undersized system you will use 100% of the possible energy it can produce and with the latter an oversized system you will be on 100% solar power without grid power.