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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Doosie Morris

Thinking of getting a solar battery? Consider these things first

Solar storage battery
Start looking into solar batteries and you’ll soon find yourself in a quagmire of technical specifications; talk of kilowatt hours, feed-in tariffs, congestion and curtailment and head-wrecking calculations. Photograph: Antonio Garcia Recena/Getty Images

Like any emerging technology, personal solar storage in the form of “batteries” has been enthusiastically debated and tested by those able (and interested enough) to get into the nitty-gritty. But for those who don’t have the time, energy or inclination to give themselves a crash course in the shifting sands of the Australian energy market, the solar battery landscape can feel impenetrable.

Start looking into solar batteries and you’ll soon find yourself in a quagmire of technical specifications; talk of kilowatt hours, feed-in tariffs, congestion and curtailment and head-wrecking calculations. While the complex mechanisms of energy production, consumption and commerce might make quick sense to some, for many solar punters trying to figure out how to make best use of the excess energy generated by their rooftop arrays, the comparisons and calculations (not to mention the cost) can feel overwhelming.

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