For solar array owners, the appeal of lithium battery storage makes sense. On sunny days, residential solar arrays often generate enough electricity to power a home. They have enough left over to sell back to the local utility.
The idea that the power could be stored and used later, rather than sold back to the grid, will become a more attractive option. Home storage batteries can help you cut your electricity bill significantly, especially if you live in a sunny state. A home can only get to
Net Zero energy by being powered with clean energy captured by solar panels and stored in batteries.
Additionally, stored electricity could fill the tank of an electric car or keep the lights on in homes and neighborhoods where
the electric grid has gone down. This is the idea behind making your home more resilient. It can keep some key electric-powered items, like your refrigerator and freezer, running in the event of natural or human-made disasters that are becoming more frequent.
As that same grid becomes more sophisticated, homeowners may even have opportunities to sell their energy to utilities during high demand times, such as 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Solar-powered batteries have been around for a while. However, they are still a young but rapidly growing market now as manufacturers continue to ramp up production to meet increasing demand. No one company dominates the market; here’s a look at the current marketplace. (Note: Rise has written about battery
options since prices continue to change and the market evolves, we are revisiting this topic.)