If you buy the wrong battery system for your three-phase home your electricity bill will not go down nearly as much as you expect. And with the economic return of battery systems being pretty marginal in even the best case scenario, it is super important that your battery gives you the best returns possible. [Read more…]

And you thought batteries were meant to be getting cheaper every year?

Sorry I’ve been slow in reporting this, but back in February Tesla raised the price of a Powerwall 2 in the United States by 400 Mickey Mouse dollars; an increase from US$5,500 to US$5,900.  We’ve also copped it sweet here in Australia and the price has increased by $600 to $9,600 before installation.  The only mitigating circumstance I can see is that all Tesla Powerwall 2 battery systems now come with full backup capability.  It’s no longer an optional feature. [Read more…]

Powershop Reveals Dollar Value Of Reposit Payments For Exporting Battery Power To Grid During ‘Critical Peaks’

Reposit is a smart controller that helps households make more effective use of battery systems.  One advantage Reposit provides is during certain — very limited — periods of time, you can be paid $1 for each kilowatt-hour of electricity your battery exports to the grid.  Reposit calls these payments GridCredits. [Read more…]

If you are buying a solar battery – go in with your eyes wide open.

I’ve been publishing thoughts on the solar industry since 2009. And since Tesla announced their Powerwall battery to great media hype in May 2015, a lot of those thoughts have concerned batteries.

Unfortunately, a lot of the facts I’ve published about batteries, their economics and their environmental impacts have not gone down well with some parts of the solar industry, generally the parts that have bet their future on selling lots of batteries in the short to medium term. [Read more…]

Professor of Archaeology, expert on the occult, and how does one say it… reviewer of steel battery boxes.

Opal Solar is a brand owned by the Australian solar wholesaler Solar Juice.  Last December they launched Opal Storage, an “all-in-one” home battery system. [Read more…]

Installing a home battery system right now will not save you money. Maybe in a year or two it will, but I have a very short time horizon so that’s almost like never to me.

As of March 2018 I know of no battery system on the market that will save money for a household that has anything approaching normal electricity consumption. [Read more…]

Samsung has decided to let their partner, Hansol Technics, take over their residential battery storage systems. However, the rebranding probably wasn’t done by someone cosplaying as Bob Ross.

There are now over 200 Samsung AIO battery systems installed in Australia, providing battery power to households both on-grid and off.  Their manufacturer, Samsung, is a giant, South Korean based, multinational conglomerate and if you’d like snag yourself a brand new AIO battery system from them, that’s terribly unfortunate, because you can’t have one.

[Read more…]