HOW STORAGE WORKS

How It Works

Battery storage is charged during the day by your solar panels, or in some cases they may be charged by the electric grid. The stored power can then be discharged at a time of your choosing; generally, in the evening when electricity rates are at their highest (Peak rates), or in the event of a blackout or electric grid failure. The discharging of the batteries is completely programable and automated, so the property owner doesn’t have to do anything once it is set.

Load shifting is when the electric power from your solar system is stored on your batteries during the day when utility rates are lower, instead of being back fed onto the grid. The power is then discharged in the evening when utility rates are higher. Load shifting allows you to use your solar power at night. This strategy is often referred to as energy arbitrage and can help property owners maximize the return on investment of their solar and storage system.

Emergency backup power is automatically discharged from your batteries in the event of a blackout or electric grid failure, so you don’t have to lift a finger or worry about a thing. Battery storage can be engineered to backup an entire property by wiring the system directly to your main electrical panel. However, most systems are designed exclusively to backup critical loads (refrigerators; freezers; security, communication and computer systems; and any other electrical loads deemed to be “critical” by the property owner) to help reduce the overall size and cost of the system. Critical loads are isolated by moving circuits for those loads from your main electric panel onto an auxiliary sub panel (also known as a “critical loads panel”). For systems designed with a critical loads panel, when there is a blackout or grid failure, the main electric panel is isolated, and your batteries automatically begin discharging power exclusively to your critical loads panel to keep your critical loads powered. Your solar panels transforms your emergency backup system into a renewable energy source that can recharge itself every day, indefinitely, for as long as a grid failure exists, keeping your lights on even when the grid is down.

Off grid systems are designed to provide solar and battery storage power to properties that are located beyond the reach of the utility company’s electric grid. Since an off grid solar and storage system is usually a property’s only power source, it is designed to meet the power needs of the entire property.

The experts at 180 Solar Power are well versed in all the latest battery storage technology. Click here to get a free quote before current government incentives for storage expire.Click here to get a free storage quote.