Home battery storage and self-consumption

In short: A home battery stores surplus solar power during the day and releases it in the evening. Self-consumption rises and you buy less electricity from the grid.

In more detail: Without storage a household often consumes only 25 to 35 percent of its solar power itself. With storage 60 to 80 percent is possible.

In detail

• Capacity: Given in kilowatt-hours (kWh). Rule of thumb: about 1 kWh of storage per 1,000 kWh annual consumption.
• Technology: Mostly lithium iron phosphate (LFP), long-lived and safe.
• Lifespan: About 6,000 to 10,000 charge cycles, so many years.
• Economics: Depends on electricity price, feed-in tariff and purchase cost. Do the sums beforehand (solarzelle-funktionsweise).
• Backup power: Some systems keep selected loads running during a grid outage.