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9 Benefits of Using a Home Battery Backup
Battery backup systems prepare you for grid power problems like blackouts and power outages. These systems allow you to store energy for later use, helping reduce energy costs, dependence on grid electricity, and environmental impact.
Battery storage also puts you in control of the electricity in your home. It provides backup power to continue operating essential home devices, including lighting, air conditioning, refrigeration, and medication equipment, anytime needed.
Here are the top benefits of using a home battery backup.
1. Greater Energy Independence
Residential battery storage systems allow you to build a home that’s less dependent on grid power. These systems will allow you to supply backup power to your home, regardless of the weather or time of the day. This resilience is one of the main reasons homeowners opt for energy storage.
Natural disasters and severe weather, including ice storms, hurricanes, and flooding, can cause unforeseen and prolonged power outages, lasting for days or weeks.
If you live in an area that’s prone to the above events or unstable grid power, it’s advisable to pair your storage battery with your solar panel system to create a solar-plus-storage system. This setup can generate and store electricity that might be enough for you to live off-grid.
While whole-home battery systems can power entire homes, they’re often very expensive and somewhat impractical.
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2. Lower Utility Bills
Another primary reason people use home battery backups is to reduce electricity bills. Since energy is pulled from the storage batteries, homeowners will likely consume less electricity from the grid, resulting in cost savings.
Combining a battery storage system with solar panels not only increases energy independence but also further reduces monthly electricity costs.
For instance, solar batteries, such as the Tesla Powerwall, can recharge your battery with solar panels during the day when you’re not home. You can then use the stored energy during peak energy hours in the evening.
Battery backup systems also allow you to choose when to draw power from the grid. Opting to charge your battery when power is cheaper will reduce your energy bill.
3. Less Environmental Damage
The bulk of electricity on the grid is generated from fossil fuels. Many families also power their homes using generators that use environmentally-polluting fuels like gasoline.
Cutting back on the usage of grid energy and home generators directly helps reduce fossil fuel consumption in the energy sector. To achieve this, consider investing in a battery backup system.
Solar-plus-storage systems, specifically, are much less polluting than traditional fossil fuels. This setup can harness solar energy and store it for use later to power your home, thus reducing your carbon footprint.
Battery storage systems also foster the accommodation of renewable energy into the grid. Power stored in batteries can be supplied to the electric grid for distribution to other customers. This can help reduce the grid’s over reliance on fossil-fuel-powered power plants, promoting environmental well-being.
4. Blackout Protection
Power interruptions caused by utility companies can affect the performance of critical appliances like refrigerators that require uninterrupted electricity to operate effectively. Computer users also risk losing their data and unsaved work during power interruptions.
Battery energy storage systems can store energy from the grid or solar for use anytime you need it. This allows you to cushion yourself against power issues imposed by power grid providers, including blackouts.
Battery backup systems also boast a higher energy capacity than standard generators, enabling you to maintain your home’s electricity for longer during prolonged power disruptions. Plus, some systems have an automatic transfer switch that instantly switches between the grid and storage power, making outages virtually unnoticeable to users.
5. Low Maintenance
Battery storage systems need little to no maintenance. That’s unlike home backup generators that require regular maintenance like fuel inspection and oil replenishment. It’s also standard procedure for many homeowners to hire a technician annually to inspect their generators for any possible problems.
6. Tax Credits and Rebates
Individuals who buy a storage battery or a solar-plus-storage are eligible for federal tax credits. An energy.gov guide highlights that individuals who own solar systems can claim up to 30% federal tax credit. Depending on where you live, you may also qualify for other federal incentives and rebates.
7. Reduced Strain on the Grid
Using stored battery power during peak hours lessens the pressure on the grid, leading to fewer outages for the entire community.
You can also “donate” excess electricity to the grid during peak hours to further reduce the strain. The beauty of doing this is that you can later draw the previously supplied energy back to power your home, resulting in cost savings.
In addition, electricity customers who don’t feed power back to the grid can enjoy reduced electricity costs. This is because the decrease in peak demand can drive down peak-hour prices, benefiting everyone.
Battery storage can also provide frequency support; even a seemingly insignificant frequency deviation of a few tenths of a point, like 0.6 Hz, can lead to blackouts.
8. Reduced Noise
Solar batteries work in silence. That’s unlike traditional diesel generators that make noise when running; even hums can affect the noise-sensitive. Noise pollution can cause decreased efficiency at work, annoyance, aggression, and in extreme cases, hearing loss.
9. Energy Trading
In some cases, you can sell electricity to the electric grid to secure a discounted electricity bill. To do this, you may need to work with energy partners who use specialized software to monitor and regulate energy transfers between your battery backup and the grid.
Battery Backups for Emergency Power, Savings, and Environmental Protection
Battery backup systems are gaining popularity among homeowners due to their various advantages, such as storing solar energy or grid power for later use during an outage. They also grant control over electricity access and usage.
Some main benefits of using a battery backup include emergency backup power, financial savings, and environmental protection. While you might be sold on the pros of a battery backup, there are costs and factors to consider.
Before purchasing a home battery backup, it’s essential to consider factors like the size of your home, available battery types, as well as the installation and operation costs.
