Solar And Storage

Should I Add A Battery To An Old Solar System?

3 Minute Read
Should I Add A Battery To An Old Solar System? | JellyWatt FAQ
If your panels are on the Feed-in Tariff, adding a battery can lift how much of your own energy you use from around 50% to about 75%, and you keep your generation payments.

We get asked this a lot by people who had solar panels fitted years ago. Usually the system is on the old Feed-in Tariff and they want to know if adding a battery is worth it.

For most of those homes, the answer is yes. It can be really beneficial.

Key Takeaways

  • You keep your Feed-in Tariff. You are still paid for what your panels generate.
  • You stop wasting half your energy. Without a battery, around 50% of what you generate leaves the house.
  • Self consumption goes up to around 75%. That makes a real difference to your bills.

How The Feed-in Tariff Works

The Feed-in Tariff pays you for what your panels generate. That payment is based on your generation meter, not on how much of the energy you actually use.

The problem is timing. Your panels produce the most in the middle of the day, when most homes use the least. Without a battery, everything you don't use at that moment goes back to the grid.

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What Adding A Battery To A Solar System Changes

If you don't have a battery, you are losing around 50% of the energy you generate. Add one, and you can push that self consumption rate up to around 75%.

The battery soaks up the spare energy during the day. Then your home uses it in the evening, when you would otherwise be buying electricity from the grid.

So you get two wins. Your bills come down because you are using more of your own energy. And you are still getting paid your generation payments. It's a bit of a no brainer.

Is My Old System Suitable?

Most older systems can take a battery. We look at your inverter, your consumer unit and how you use energy before we recommend anything. We also make sure your generation meter still only records what your panels produce, so your payments carry on as normal.

You can read more about our home battery storage and how we size it. If you are wondering how big a battery you need, our guide How Many Batteries Do I Need? explains our approach.

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