There are many reasons to be disgruntled with Big Energy.
Rising bills, poor customer service, over-reliance on non-renewable and unethical energy sources – not to mention the ever-looming spectre of total climate collapse – all make reliance on the grid a little bit yucky, and any one of them is reason enough to consider ‘going solar’.
Solar power has been an alternative energy mainstay for decades now, offering ancillary off-grid power acquisition to homeowners and businesses alike. It’s only in recent years that solar has become a true contender as a full-throttle energy alternative, particularly as domestic solar systems get more and more affordable.
A basic solar system would comprise solar panels and an inverter for converting their DC output to AC; an optional extra, though, could utterly transform the utility of your system: a solar battery.
Why invest in solar battery storage?
As you’d expect, solar batteries capture and store electricity generated by your panels – and their introduction to your solar energy system can be beneficial in key ways. Firstly, and most obviously, a charged solar battery ensures you have stable access to electricity all the time.
Obviously, solar panels can’t produce electricity at night. A battery enables the capture of electricity during the day for use at night, or to make up for shortfalls on darker or shorter days - adding convenience to a given system, especially for off-grid households that would otherwise have to limit their energy usage to daylight hours.
Convenience aside, solar battery storage can also offer cost savings, particularly for grid-connected households that rely on imported electricity to plug their solar system’s shortfall. Being able to store electricity means you rely less on imported electricity; if you export excess electricity back to the grid via the Smart Export Guarantee, you can effectively increase your income from it by reducing your expenditure on costlier import tariffs.
Choosing a solar battery
Capacity and consumption are amongst the most important considerations: capacity being the power output of your solar panel array, and consumption being how much energy you use as a household.
Put simply, there’s no point buying a battery with a small capacity if your array will fill it instantly, or if you’ll empty it just as quickly; likewise, it is pointless to invest thousands in a super high-capacity solar battery if your array has no hope of charging it in a reasonable period.
Best solar battery storage in the UK at a glance
When putting together a solar system, there is no singular ‘right answer’.
The scope of the project changes dramatically depending on your circumstances, electricity usage, and other key requirements – which is why we’ve picked a broad-ranging sample of the best options on the market, from small-scale portable power banks to supersized commerce-friendly solar battery packs and everywhere in-between.
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Q.Home Core 6.8kWh Solar Storage Battery
Best: overall
Q.Home Core is the smart-looking solar battery storage arm of Qcells, and one of the more accessible solutions for homes looking to upgrade their whole solar deal. This is the smallest of their batteries, offering 6.8kWh but with the option to chain further units for increased capacity.
The Q.Home Core units are easy to wall-mount and come with plenty of smart features to seal the deal, from general Q.Connect app control to a specific Dynamic Optimiser Mode that uses real-time weather information to maximise your energy yields.
Plenty is going for the Q.Home Core as it stands. However, it’s in our list not for its practical capacity or smart algorithmic tendencies; rather, it’s here because it’s one of the nicest-looking solar battery storage solutions on the market.
Not only is it easy to install and practical to use, but it also won’t be an eyesore if you have to install it in line of sight of your living spaces.
Buy now £1966.32, Infinite Solar
EcoFlow DELTA 2 Power Station 1024Wh Portable Power Bank
Best for: portable power
Not all solar battery storage solutions are hefty, wall-mounted blocks of cells and wires. There’s also some fun crossover with the smaller, more portable battery power-bank market – which is great news for the tiny-homers and van-converters amongst us. One of the best examples of small-scale solar power capture is this, the EcoFlow DELTA 2 Power Station.
The DELTA 2 can store a little over 1kWh, but enables ease of access to said power via on-board mains and USB sockets. Running high-powered appliances in off-grid living and portable living spaces is notoriously difficult without grid connection, but this little juiced-up power bank makes it much more accessible.
If you want a demure solar battery solution that can follow you around, try this.
Buy now £899.00, Argos
Pylontech 2.4kWh US2000C Lithium Solar Storage Battery 50Ah 48V
Best for: rack-mount modular storage
Pylontech is one of the more visible solar battery storage brands on the market, with some pretty attractive prices for its various offerings – amongst which, you’ll find this nifty rack-mount solar battery. This Pylontech US2000C is a 2.4kWh battery with a built-in BMS, designed with modularity firmly in mind; just rack it up, and add more units as you need to meet your demand.
The US2000C is a brilliant plug-and-play design, and makes upgrading your storage facilities an absolute cinch. Got room to spare on your 19-inch rack? Slap another in! Between its user-friendliness and its bite-sized price points, this is an ideal option for those wanting to build their solar system iteratively – whether a growing household or a growing business.
Buy now £638.59, Amazon
Growatt GBLI 6532 6.5kWh Battery
Best for: capacity on a budget
Growatt is a name that pops up a lot across Europe when it comes to solar inverters and batteries; it is a somewhat ubiquitous brand, thanks to some highly competitive pricing that makes it the affordable brand of choice for many solar homesteaders on a budget. This is the 6.5kWh battery unit, and it’s one of the cheaper units on the market with a capacity this large.
That money is buying you a pretty solid unit with a lot of headroom, and of course the option to run it in parallel with up to three of its ilk.
A ten-year warranty proofs your purchase from some key concerns, and installation is as easy as it gets. If you’ve got medium-high storage requirements and a tight budget, this is a decent option for you.
Buy now £1700.00, City Plumbing
Eco-Worthy 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 Lithium Battery
Best for: van-lifing leisure usage
While most solar-switching scenarios involve a brick-and-mortar building, there’s a healthy sub-industry in more portable solar-powered solutions.
Solar power is one of the most reliable ways for narrowboat-dwellers and ‘van-lifers’ to power things on the move – and most van-life power solutions are centred around the leisure battery. Leisure batteries are 12.8V affairs, used to provide sustained power over time; Eco-Worthy’s 12V leisure battery is an excellent choice for the mobile-homer hoping to use solar power on the go.
This 12V leisure battery offers 1280Wh of power, and significantly more power per kg than the lead-acid batteries commonly used in this space. With a 400W solar array, you can achieve full charge in just over three hours, great for ensuring you’ve got the beans for a full day or two’s usage while out on the road.
Buy now £239.99, Amazon
Anker SOLIX F2000 Portable Power Station
Best for: comprehensive solar storage on the road
A slightly off-piste suggestion, say hello to powerbank brand Anker’s giant portable power station, the SOLIX F2000. This thing is so weighty that it incorporates its own trolley wheels and carry handle, which cement the F2000’s design as a comprehensive solution for solar battery storage on the road.
The F2000 boasts just over 2kWh of storage, which comes nearly to the size of some (albeit demure) domestic power storage solutions. It is the full Monty in and of itself, though, capable of directly receiving charge from solar arrays of up to 1000W.
It’s an all-in-one off-grid solution for travelling households, thanks to its numerous sockets and connectors – and its smart app functionality.
Buy now £1699.00, Amazon
Sunsynk L3.0 3.07kWh Outdoor Battery Storage
Best for: starting an outdoor modular battery system
Sunsynk is a well-regarded purveyor of inverters and battery solutions for solar systems, and its inclusion on this list should not be much of a surprise. It’s been in the space for over 20 years and has learnt a thing or two about what systems may need – as demonstrated by the L series of batteries.
This is the L3.0 3.07kWh battery, the smallest of the range. Its relative diminutiveness shouldn’t be a deterrent, particularly as it’s a trifle to add more in parallel as needs evolve. The L3.0 also benefits from a built-in BMS, for safe monitoring and automatic protection from over-charge or over-current.
If you want to build a modular outdoor solar battery storage system starting small, this is a great place to start.
Buy now £625.00, HDM Solar
Fogstar Energy 15.5Kwh 48V Battery
Best for: high-usage households
Fogstar is a luminary UK brand for batteries – and fittingly so, given the luminant element to its name. Being a leading name in lithium batteries, it’s understandable that the brand’s stature in solar would be what it is. Fogstar’s 15.5kWh 48V battery is also of understandable stature, just from the sheer chuffing size of the thing.
This is a beast of a solar battery, coming in at around 140kg of home-charging heft; good thing, then, that it ships with casters so you can move it around.
Its 15.5kWh power offering is overkill for the vast majority of households, but if you’re a family of five or more (or have several reptile terraria distributed about your home), you might not be far from this level of peak usage.
If you need the juice, you might as well invest in a solar battery storage unit that can handle it outright!
Buy now £2499.00, Fogstar
Huawei LUNA2000 Solar Storage Lithium Battery Module (5KWh)
Best for: seamless home integration
Huawei’s technological prowess extends far beyond communications; its LUNA2000 solar system is example enough, and a great example of how seamless solar technology can be integrated into the home. This is the LUNA2000 battery module, which offers 5kWh of storage and an impressive charging rate too.
You will need to invest further into Huawei’s LUNA2000 ecosystem to make the most of this battery (including a separate LUNA battery management system), so consider this only if you’re happy going all-in on Huawei. The benefit of doing this, though, is that you’re attached to a well-designed suite of products (which are versatile in their own way – including wind-turbine compatibility!) and entitled to a 10-year warranty to boot.
Buy now £2600.00, Eco Wizard
Fogstar SEPLOS V4 48V DIY Kit
Best for: customisability
Fogstar’s range of solar battery solutions is wide, but there’s one subset of entries in the roster which caters to a peerless breadth of use cases. The Fogstar SEPLOS V4 system is a do-it-yourself 48V battery kit, which enables you to build a solar battery storage system that suits your needs from the ground up.
As well as selecting for your ideal capacity individually, you can also chain packs in parallel to make expansion a trifle. The value on this unit is incredible, and speaks also to the wider value-per-kWh of Fogstar’s roster generally; add in some smart Bluetooth functionality and a responsive on-unit touchscreen, and you’ve got a sturdy competitor for best-in-class.
Buy now £599.99, Fogstar
Verdict
The Q.Home Core 6.8kWh Solar Storage Battery won on account of its well-apportioned capacity for average usage and the seamlessness with which it fits in most realistic domestic spaces.
