What is Battery Storage?
Battery storage works on the principle of storing surplus electrical energy for when demand is at its highest. Most commonly, this is achieved via a Solar PV array whereby occupancy levels or demand is lower during hours of peak solar energy sunlight which in turn produces peak levels of electricity.
Where historically the greatest financial incentives may have been to sell this surplus electricity back to the national grid, the rates offered for this are now significantly lower than they were in the past. Instead, users are now storing this surplus energy produced during the day to use themselves during peak demand times in the evenings.
A good example of this could be an average family where both parents go out to work during the day while children are at school. During the hours of around 09:30am and 15:30pm, a solar pv system would be harnessing energy from the sun with nothing other than domestic base loads to support. Once parents and children alike return home, peak electricity usage commences as showers, cooking equipment, electronic devices and potentially EV cars begin to draw electricity. Having a suitably sized battery storage facility can therefore release stored solar electricity into the household throughout the evening period, effectively allowing you to support the electrical loadings of your house for free or at a substantially reduced rate.
Commercially, battery storage can also prove worthwhile where workers are absent during weekends and surplus energy is stored ahead of the working week, or where facilities operate a night shift.
Advantages of Battery Storage
• Reduced electricity bills
• Resilience to power outages
• Reduced environmental impact
Although primarily used in tandem with solar PV systems, battery storage can be installed standalone too. The principle here is based on lower electricity tariffs which some energy providers offer during off-peak periods, such as the Octopus Agile Tarrif which can be set up here – https://octopus.energy/agile/
Here, battery storage systems would charge up through the night when electricity prices are at their very cheapest, and discharge during the mornings, throughout the day and into the evenings when electricity demand in the house is at its highest and grid-bought electricity is at it’s most expensive.
At Lakeside M&E, our in-house design team can design, install and maintain a battery storage system that is bespoke to you based on your own personal consumption data. If for any reason this needs to be expanded in the future, more battery ‘banks’ can be easily added due to the modulated nature of battery manufacturers designs.
We are currently accredited installers of Giv Energy, Fox ESS and Huawei Battery Storage Systems.
About Lakeside M&E
Here at Lakeside M&E we have committed to sustainable UK Mechanical and Electrical Engineering playing a crucial role in allowing these sectors to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
This is true sustainability.
Incorporated in 2009
Lakeside M&E Services are a sustainable Mechanical and Electrical Engineering contractor based in the North of England who manage and deliver every aspect of an M&E package.
With offices in Manchester, Bury & Bradford while covering the whole of the UK, we provide the most innovative and technologically advanced renewable energy engineering systems across a multitude of sectors and client bases including the domestic, commercial and industrial markets, with a particular presence in the Education and Health Care sectors.