Page 5 - Understanding energy storage batteries

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Do your Homework before purchasing energy storage batteries.

One of the biggest problems with the efforts to use renewable energy to produce large amounts of the
energy consumed on a daily basis has been its inability to reliably supply power at the times it is most
needed. This can and will be addressed with the installation of battery systems that allow households
and businesses to store renewable energy for use in peak periods.

Then when you need to use the power you are buying it from the grid at a much higher cost.

With an energy storage battery you can utilise the majority of the output of your solar system and
minimise these expensive evening electricity rates.

This is definitely a market that is set to thrive in 2020 and following years, however not all batteries are
the same. Most battery suppliers won't tell you the downside of their batteries and will only tell you
the things that are most likely to sell their batteries, so you need to ask questions and compare
batteries.

To start with ask for a safety data sheet which is required to point out all the operating conditions of a
battery. FZSoNick is one of the few battery suppliers that actually provides this and if you would like to
get access to this, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Also consider the size and operating conditions required of each battery. Most batteries are quite large
and may need to be ventilated to make sure no toxic gasses build up.

Another major consideration in Australia is the temperature range that a battery can operate within
before the battery will deteriorate. The majority of batteries need to be cooled to keep them below
specific temperatures so that they don't deteriorate. This adds to the cost of operating the battery.

Likewise and even less mentioned is the fact that many batteries don’t operate below 5 and
sometimes 10 degrees. The batteries may not charge at these low temperatures or may not discharge
or only discharge at an extremely low rate. As batteries are often relied on to produce power in winter
this can be quite a substantive problem and may require significant power to heat the batteries

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