In this week’s Solar News Roundup, sonnen receives a large investment round lead by Shell Ventures, and American businesses installed an additional 325 MW of solar last year. Continue reading
If you live in an area with frequent power outages, you already know the benefits of having backup power installed at your home.
If you’re considering installing an off-grid solar project with a battery attached, you’ll want to look into a solar charge controller for your system. Charge controllers act as a gateway to your battery, and ensures that you don’t overcharge and damage your energy storage system.
Home energy storage is a relatively new technology that’s steadily gained interest over the past few years, and it’s hard to know where to start when comparing all your options. Top solar batteries like those made by Tesla and Sonnen make it possible for homeowners and businesses to store their excess solar energy instead of sending it back to the grid, so that when the power goes out or electricity rates spike they can keep the lights on. If you want to install a solar battery at your home, you have a few different choices currently available to you. Compare the Tesla Powerwall vs. Sonnen eco vs. LG Chem vs. Pika Energy Smart Harbor Battery in terms of capacity, warranty, and price.
In this week’s Solar News Roundup, a college in Hawaii looks to become the first 100% renewable campus in the U.S. with solar power, and regulators in Arizona decide to put a hold on new gas plants in favor of cleaner energy sources.
If you’ve been wondering “do solar panels work at night?”, you’re certainly not alone. If you choose to rely on solar panels for your home electricity use, it’s important to understand how solar panels can be a reliable source of power during night time when there is no available sunlight.
Batteries are becoming a popular addition to solar panel systems throughout the U.S. and across the globe. Energy storage can provide backup power if the grid goes down, and also help maximize savings in utility territories that have time-of-use (TOU) rates or unfavorable net metering policies.
Solar installation companies are picking up on the trend, and have started offering battery installation as a service. The biggest residential solar installer in the country, Sunrun, has a “solar plus storage” option known as the Brightbox package. Brightbox is available in Hawaii, Arizona, California, New York, and most recently Massachusetts.
Home energy storage has featured frequently in the news over the past few months thanks to new battery products from companies like Tesla, LG and Mercedes-Benz. These products are popular for a reason: when you pair solar panels with a battery bank at your home or business, you can actually operate independently from the electric grid. However, not all solar batteries are created equal. Here’s the rundown on what it actually takes to use a solar panel battery bank to go off the grid.
Batteries are becoming a popular add-on to solar systems thanks to the extra benefits they can offer for solar system buyers. Batteries offer backup power benefits when the grid goes down, increases the usefulness of off-grid systems, and improves solar economics if you have less than ideal net metering policies or time-of-use (TOU) rates.
Newer, more efficient solar panels and inverters have been in the news recently, but advancements in solar technology aren’t limited to standard equipment. Energy storage is also moving closer to mass-market adoption, and more installers are offering solar batteries and solar panel battery banks (a.k.a. solar-plus-storage) as an option for homeowners.
Solar-plus-storage systems include a battery that captures and stores the excess solar energy generated by the PV system, opening up the possibility of going “off the grid” – a tempting proposition for homeowners who want to sever their connection with utility companies by using renewable energy. As solar batteries become cheaper and more accessible for homeowners, more people are wondering, “Can I use solar batteries to go off the grid with my solar panel system?”
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