Storage
Battery storage
A battery's job is simple: stop you exporting electricity cheaply during the day and buying it back expensively at night. Whether that is worth doing depends entirely on your consumption pattern.
- Sized to your evening load
- Backup power option
- Retrofit to existing systems
Accredited & registeredIn business 13 years
SEAI Registered
Safe Electric
Solar Ireland Member- Athlone Chamber Member
- Based in AthloneTrading since 2013
The basic idea
Storage moves electricity through time
Solar generates at midday. Most homes use most of their electricity in the evening. A battery bridges that gap.
Without storage, surplus midday generation is exported to the grid and paid for at the export rate — which is meaningfully less than what you pay to buy electricity back a few hours later. As of mid-2026 the gap is roughly 15–20c per exported unit against ~40c per imported one. A battery captures that surplus and releases it when you actually need it, converting a low-value export into an avoided purchase.
A second, separate use is tariff arbitrage. If you are on a smart or day/night tariff, a battery can charge from the grid during the cheap window and discharge during the expensive one — which works whether or not the sun shines, and is genuinely useful in winter when solar contributes least.
- Store daytime surplus for evening use
- Charge on cheaper off-peak rates and discharge at peak
- Reduce the size of your evening grid draw
- Optionally provide backup power during an outage
Where your power goes
One roof, three jobs
On a bright day your panels do three things at once: run the house, top up the battery, and sell the spare to the grid. The knack — and it is the whole job — is sizing things so as much as possible getsused at home, where it is worth most.
- Used in the house — worth full price
- Stored for the evening — worth nearly as much
- Sold to the grid — worth the least
The honest question
Do you actually need one?
Batteries are the most oversold component in domestic solar. Here is how we assess it, rather than defaulting to yes.
Usually worth it
- The property is empty through the working day and busy in the evening
- You are on a tariff with a meaningful day/night price difference
- You charge an electric car at home
- You have a heat pump running outside daylight hours
- Outage resilience genuinely matters to you
- Your existing solar system exports a large share of what it generates
Often not worth it
- The building already consumes most of its generation during daylight
- Farm and commercial sites with heavy, steady daytime load
- Consumption is low enough that surplus is small to begin with
- You are on a flat tariff with no off-peak window to exploit
We will tell you if the answer is no
A battery is a significant part of a system's cost. If your consumption pattern means it will spend most of its life half-cycled, we would rather put that money into a better-specified array or simply not spend it. That advice has cost us sales and we will keep giving it.
Specification
What to check on any battery quote
Battery specifications are where quotes become hardest to compare, because several different numbers get used interchangeably. These are the ones that matter.
- Usable capacity, not nominal. These are different numbers. Usable capacity is what you actually get to use, and it is the one that should be quoted.
- Continuous power output. Capacity tells you how much energy is stored; power output tells you how much the battery can deliver at once. A large battery with modest output will not run a shower and an oven together.
- Warranty terms and throughput. Battery warranties are usually expressed in years andcycles or total energy throughput — whichever comes first.
- Whether backup is actually included. Outage protection needs specific equipment and extra wiring. It is not automatic.
- AC or DC coupling. This affects efficiency and what is possible when retrofitting to an existing array.
- Where it will physically go. Batteries have temperature, ventilation and clearance requirements. A garage wall is not always suitable.
Two common questions
Retrofits and backup power
Adding a battery to an existing system
Usually possible, and we will assess systems we did not install. Whether it is straightforward depends on your existing inverter. Some accept a battery directly; others need an additional AC-coupled battery inverter, which adds cost and a small efficiency penalty. We will tell you which situation you are in before you commit to anything.
Keeping the lights on in an outage
Backup is not a default feature. During a grid failure a standard system shuts down for safety — it must not feed the network while engineers may be working on it. Providing backup requires equipment that can safely island your building from the grid, plus wiring to the circuits you want supported. It is entirely doable, but it needs to be specified from the outset rather than added later.
Good to know
Battery storage installation: common questions
How do I get paid for electricity I export?
Export payments come from your electricity supplier under the Clean Export Guarantee, not from the government. When we commission your system we notify ESB Networks (the NC6 or NC7 form), which is what registers you as a microgenerator; your supplier then applies its export rate to your account. With a smart meter your actual export is measured; rates vary by supplier, so it is worth comparing.
How big a battery does a typical house need?
Enough to cover your evening and overnight consumption, and little more — capacity beyond what you can cycle daily earns nothing. For many Irish homes that lands somewhere between 5 and 15 kWh, but the honest answer comes from your consumption pattern, which is what we model at survey stage before recommending a size.
What happens to the electricity I do not use?
You have three options and most systems use all of them: use it in the building as it is generated, store it in a battery for later, or export it to the grid. Exported electricity is paid for by your supplier under the Clean Export Guarantee. The rate you receive is set by your electricity supplier, so it is worth comparing.
Do I need a battery?
Not necessarily. A battery makes the strongest case where a lot of your consumption happens in the evening, after generation has dropped off, or where you want backup during an outage. If your building consumes most of its electricity during daylight hours — which is common for businesses and farms — a battery matters less. We model your consumption before recommending one.
Will a battery keep my power on during an outage?
Only if the system is specified for it. Backup requires compatible equipment and additional wiring so the system can safely disconnect from the grid and continue supplying your building. Not every battery installation includes this by default, so tell us at the outset if outage protection matters to you.
Can I add a battery or EV charger to an existing system?
Usually yes, though it depends on your existing inverter and consumer unit. Some systems accept a battery directly, others need an additional AC-coupled unit. We can assess a system we did not install and tell you what is possible before you commit to anything.
Does solar affect my BER or my house insurance?
Solar PV normally improves a BER, because it reduces the calculated primary energy use of the home — and a post-works BER assessment is part of the SEAI grant process anyway. On insurance: tell your insurer you have added solar, as with any alteration to the building. Cover for panels is routine.
Do solar panels actually work in the Irish climate?
Yes. Solar PV responds to daylight, not heat or direct sunshine, so panels generate on bright overcast days as well as clear ones. Output is strongly seasonal in Ireland — summer generation is far higher than winter — which is why we size a system around your year-round consumption pattern rather than a headline figure.
Explore
Other things we do
Most systems we install combine more than one of these. We design them together rather than bolting them on afterwards.
Domestic Solar PV
Solar PV designed around how your household actually uses electricity — with the SEAI grant guided every step.
Learn more
EV Charging
Charge from your own roof or off-peak night rates, with a charger properly integrated into your system.
Learn more
Solar Maintenance & Support
Inspections, monitoring and repairs that keep an array earning across its warranted life.
Learn more
Get started
Should you add a battery?
Send us a recent bill and we will model it honestly against your consumption — including telling you if we think a battery is not worth it for your property.