Retrofitting an electricity storage system: Here is why it's worthwhile
Retrofitting a photovoltaic (PV) system with an electricity storage system has never made more sense. Climate protection and two good financial incentives are convincing reasons in favour.
The first reason: The German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) based feed-in tariffs for many PV systems will expire in the next few years. By 2030, half a million solar power systems in Germany will no longer be eligible for EEG subsidies. The income from these subsidies will disappear.
And the second reason: The price gap between self-generated and purchased electricity is getting wider due to the rising electricity prices. According to the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), the price of self-generated electricity is between 10 and 13 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). Retail consumer electricity costs are on average just under 32 cents/kWh. So you save about 20 cents per kWh (Data for Germany in Oct 2021). You can only achieve a high self-consumption rate by retrofitting your PV system with an electricity storage system.
Finally a third, non-monetary - but convincing reason: Using self-generated electricity is particularly climate-friendly, it is 100 % renewable. There are no power lines and hardly any efficiency losses.
Benefits of retrofitting at a glance
- Increase in the self-consumption rate to up to 70%
- Independence from weather conditions and time of day
- Greater independence from the energy suppliers
- Very climate-friendly
- Less affected by future electricity price rises
- Secure supply of energy
How retrofitting with an electricity storage system works
What are the watch-out items?
It is important to keep the charging and discharging currents low by using high voltages. It will minimise the temperature cycles within the battery and significantly increase the service life of the battery cells. The battery inverter RCT Power Storage AC is particularly gentle on the battery.
And there is more to the battery inverter: It optimises yields utilising an intelligent charging strategy. Programmable switching outputs ensure that excess power is not fed into the grid but can instead be targeted at consumers, such as a heat pump. It will significantly increase your self-consumption ratio.
How complicated is it to retrofit an electricity storage unit?