Is buying a home battery a good choice?
What's a home battery?
With a home battery, you store energy at home. That's useful when you have solar panels and don't use the energy right away. You store this energy in the home battery so you can use it at a later moment. Is the battery full? The generated power automatically goes to the power grid.
How do you earn back the battery?
In addition to storing your solar power, you can also trade with a home battery. With a dynamic energy contract, you charge the battery when the energy prices are low or negative and use it when the energy prices are high. We call this difference the spread. You pay costs for every time you charge the battery. You make a profit every time the spread is larger than the charging costs during the lifespan of the battery. You earn back the battery when this profit is larger than the costs you made.
Advantage with a dynamic energy contract
The power grid is overloaded more often during peak moments, which causes supply and demand to switch. This means the energy prices vary. You pay less for energy on a sunny afternoon than when it's dark. Do you have a dynamic energy contract? You save 25% on your energy consumption when you use it in a smart way. You benefit more with a home battery. You store energy during affordable moments and use that power during expensive moments.
Advantage with imbalance market
Energy suppliers also want to use your battery. That works in the following way. Every day, energy suppliers indicate how much energy they need. When the energy consumption is higher or lower than expected, there's an imbalance. The energy suppliers pay a fine for the difference. A home battery can help, because the energy supplier can store or use power that way and lower the. You then receive a compensation for your home battery. Various energy suppliers are currently testing this situation.
Long payback period
It sounds easy: you charge the battery when the energy prices are low and you use the stored energy when the prices increase. However, it's difficult to predict the payback period of a home battery due to uncertainty about the net-metering regulation, the energy prices, and various possible scenarios. In the table below, we sketch out 3 situations with a home battery and what the payback period is roughly. We compare the payback period with that of solar panels.
Comparison payback period home battery
| Payback period without feed-in costs | Payback period with feed-in costs | Explanation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| You have solar panels and no home battery | 5 years | 7 years | You net-meter the energy on your annual statement. You receive the same price for your generated power and the power you use. |
| 1. You have solar panels and a home battery | 8 years | 11 years | As long as you net-meter, you save little with a home battery. You sell the extra generated power to your energy supplier for a normal price. |
| 2. You have solar panels, a home battery, and a dynamic energy contract | 8 years | 8 years (with dynamic, you don't pay any feed-in costs) | With a dynamic energy contract, you buy energy when the prices are low and you sell it when the prices are high. Because you net-meter, you save little with a home battery. |
| 3. You have solar panels, a home battery, a dynamic energy contract, and you help with the imbalance market | 6 years | 6 years (with dynamic, you don't pay any feed-in costs) | You receive money from your energy supplier, because you net-meter and help the power grid. We don't know how the power grid will develop the coming years, so the payback period is very uncertain. |
Conclusion: a home battery increases the self-consumption of your solar panels
With a home battery in addition to your solar roof, you use more of the solar energy you generated yourself. That way, you're less dependent on the energy prices and power gird. Your financial yield is uncertain, because the net-metering regulation still applies. As a result, you don't earn back a home battery as fast as solar panels. Coolblue Energy helps customers to save energy. That's why we want to offer you the chance to take a head start with a home battery. Want to be the first one with a home battery from Coolblue Energy? Leave your information via the button below.
Solar panels are still a good choice
With your own solar roof, you save on your energy bill and you're less dependent on the current energy prices. You can always connect the Enphase and Growatt inverters from Coolblue Energy to a home battery at a later moment. That way, you're ready for the future and store your energy when the home battery is more beneficial.
