There is no “one size fits all” solution in battery storage. When designing a storage system, our final recommendation needs to take into account sizing (excess electricity from the PV system, on site usage) and functionality, in particular whether or not an emergency power supply is required and whether or not the PV needs to function in a power cut. These requirements inevitably impact budget.
For large commercial systems we need to take account of the desired balance between the participation in grid income generation opportunities and the need to time-shift peak electricity charges, as well as the requirement for emergency backup.
Having said that, we have identified the technologies we believe to be “best in class” as follows:
Battery technology: Tesla Powerwall 2, TPPL Lead Acid (Northstar) and LG Chem;
Inverter / charger technology: Tesla, SMA, SolarEdge and Victron;
“Plug and play” packaged systems combining battery and charger into one: Maslow (AC connected) and SolaX (DC connected). Note that the packaged systems use our favoured battery and inverter technologies.
Tesla, Samsung-Sungrow SDI and Aquion are our favoured containerised systems, depending on application.
The table below summarises our favoured technologies for residential and commercial installs.
| Usage | Recommended brands | Solar PV | Capacity |
| Residential / single phase commercial | Tesla Powerwall | Retrofit / new PV | Up to 100kWh storage |
| SolaX X-Hybrid | New PV / inverter replacement | Up to 6kW PV, 20kWh storage | |
| Large residential / commercial | SMA, SolaX, Tesla, Victron | Retrofit / new PV | Up to 100kWh storage |
| Large commercial | Tesla, Samsung-Sungrow | Retrofit or no PV | MWh storage possible |
At the top in the residential / single phase commercial category are Tesla Powerwall 2 and SolaX, depending on whether it is a new or existing PV system. Maslow is a packaged system containing a battery charger and battery. It is ideal for residential systems where the main focus is on maximising on site consumption.
Tesla Powerwall 2 can be AC-coupled on its own or it is compatible with SolarEdge’s StorEdge for DC-coupled installations. It is possible for the system to be set up to provide an emergency backup, and in some cases, for the PV panels to continue to work in a power cut.
For high end residential systems / commercial systems which require more than 16kWh of storage and a power output from 6kW to 250kW, as well as total functionality in a power cut, we recommend the Victron Hub 2 or Hub 4 System or the SMA Flexible Storage System with Aquion batteries, as well as Tesla Powerwall 2 which can provide up to 115 kWh of storage by combining units in parallel.
For more information call us on 0118 951 4490 or download our free guide to storage:
