ENERGY STORAGE
SOLA can harness the sun’s energy for use after hours and in off-grid scenarios
Solar energy output is highest when the sun is at its most powerful at midday; however energy is often required at night, in the early morning or late afternoon. Combining battery storage with solar systems ensures that the peak solar energy is not wasted but stored in battery banks, ready to discharge when the solar power reduces.
SOLA’s energy storages services department has experience in combining battery storage systems with solar panels and existing generators in solar microgrid systems. The end-to-end service includes microgrid programming in order to ensure uninterrupted, continuous electricity, integrated with all other power sources. Clients that typically rely on diesel electricity can use a solar microgrid to reduce the overall cost of energy, increase energy resiliency, thus giving the client more control of their energy and power requirements.
Solar microgrid and off-grid solutions
Some facilities and operations lend themselves to going off-grid. Remote locations, weak grid supply and reliance on diesel generally provide an optimal business case for a solar PV microgrid. These will typically use solar, combined with batteries and a backup generator, with a microgrid controller (MGC) that ensures the energy production source switches seamlessly with no interruption of power. This solution is ideal for rural areas, islands, and any large properties or office campuses wanting to go entirely off-grid.
Increased Solar Consumption
Including battery storage in a project is also an excellent solution for clients who wish to increase the amount of solar PV installed on their rooftop, or renewable energy consumed by their facility, where the peak demand may not be able to absorb a higher amount of PV if it was installed alone.
Peak shaving
Depending on the tariff structure of the client, it may be worthwhile to introduce batteries into the system in order to “shave” some of the peak demand energy. This means that, rather than going completely off-grid, the company would use batteries to reduce demand on the grid during peak hours, when energy is most expensive and additional demand charges have the most effect on a client’s bill. This works particularly well on tariff structures that have peak demand charges.
Watch SOLA’s energy storage webinar to learn about the basics of energy storage solutions for solar PV
SOLA’s mircogrid and energy storage services department accolades:
- SOLA’s energy storage services have built over 1 MWh of energy-storage microgrid.
- They have developed an in-house Microgrid controller (MGC) that ensure seamless supply of power.
- SOLA installed Robben Island’s solar PV microgrid, at the time the largest combined PV-lithium-ion battery microgrid in the southern Hemisphere.