Solar battery guide: How to buy the best system for your needs

Size a battery around the electricity you want to shift into the evening and overnight, together with the energy available to charge it. The number of bedrooms or rooftop panel capacity alone is not enough. It is worth considering when you want to compare several storage capacities within the same product family. Ask how much usable energy the proposed configuration provides, its continuous output and what adding storage later would involve. Anker SOLIX X1, Tesla Powerwall 3, Sigenergy SigenStor, Sungrow and AlphaESS are options worth comparing. Each offers different configurations, so the right choice depends on the complete system proposed for your property.
With up to 10,000 cycles lifespan, it offers long-term value for homeowners. Virtual power plants (VPP) are an important step in the renewable energy transition and offer households another way to reduce energy commercial solar battery archerfield costs via their solar battery systems. A VPP can give you access to more affordable energy deals or pay you for  your excess energy. Lithium-ion based residential energy storage, including solar and battery  systems, has been around for a couple of years. There are also open concepts that work with most battery technologies and any existing grid connect inverter, such as those manufactured by our recommended products.

Use this guide to understand the differences, avoid paying for storage you cannot regularly use and ask better questions before accepting a quote. The “Best after-sales support” category is crucial – if things go terribly wrong, batteries can catch fire, so you want to know you have a well-supported product. The total number of charge and discharge cycles a battery can handle before its capacity significantly degrades.
Think Renewable is an Australian-owned solar  and electrical services provider operating across Sydney, the Southern Highlands, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Perth and Newcastle. All our batteries and installations comply with the highest Australian and international standards. Easy-to-operate systems with remote diagnostics that provide quick solutions to any issues.

The maximum/peak power is the most that the battery can deliver at any given moment, but this burst of power can usually only be sustained for short periods. Continuous power is the amount of power delivered while the battery has enough charge. Lithium batteries can be safely discharged to about 80–90% of their nominal capacity. Lead-acid batteries can typically be discharged to about 50–60%, while flow batteries can be discharged 100%.
For the fourth year running, Tesla takes home the Gold, underscoring its dominance in the premium solar battery market. There’s not much I can add here – their batteries “just work”, their app and control software are brilliant and constantly updated. The battery does everything you’d expect it to – installers and homeowners alike love them, even if they dislike Tesla’s increasingly nutty Technoking CEO.

Note that the cost of solar power in the USA is more than double this figure. Off-grid solar systems are also much more expensive due to the large battery systems and powerful off-grid inverters required. Fox ESS is a global leader in designing and manufacturing advanced inverter and energy storage solutions. Supported by world-renowned experts, our products deliver innovation, performance, and reliability.
The main drawback of a Redback Smart Hybrid System is its inability to go above 28 kWh. Having said that, this capacity is plenty for residential, so don’t let that put you off. For a larger system, the Redback is quite compact, and should be appropriate for any home. It also includes a feature that detects weather events that could cause blackouts and then prioritises charging to capacity so you have a backup if there’s an outage.

Here are approximate battery costs (after the current federal rebate) for common sizes, including basic installation. Prices are based on information from our solar partners, SolarQuotes. It is important to choose the right size solar battery for your needs. You can’t claim STCs for future additional solar batteries at the same premises if you decide to upgrade to a larger system later. Talk to your retailer to make sure the solar battery you choose is an appropriate size for your inverter, and it meets your current and future energy requirements.
Most models carry a ten-year warranty with a few rare exceptions offering longer. In principle, home batteries should be able to last 10 years or more under normal usage and if they’re not subjected to extreme temperatures. The rebate currently decreases every six months (see our comprehensive explainer here) and is currently set to end in 2030. But now with the federal rebate promising a discount of around 25–30%, that equation is looking a lot more favourable, depending on the aforementioned factors. If you have a 20kWh battery and your home uses an average of 4 kilowatts (kW) of power, the battery can run it for roughly five hours (minus some minor transfer losses along the way).
For every kWh of charge put in, the efficiency refers to how much the battery will actually store and put out again. There’s always some loss, but a lithium battery should usually be more than 90% efficient. For a deeper dive into VPPs, including their pros and cons, check out our handy guide for newcomers, or our comprehensive breakdown of different virtual power plants on offer. Not surprisingly, the rebate has been running red-hot since it launched last July, with the government reporting in March that 250,000 home batteries had already been installed across Australia. From May 2026, rebate values are expected to reduce significantly—meaning lower savings for new installations.

Adding a battery without doing the maths is one of the most common solar mistakes, so compare the upfront cost against your likely savings before you buy. At the centre of the HEMS is a ‘hub’ that connects to your household’s electrical switchboard. Using your phone or computer, you can access data from the hub to monitor and manage your appliances and energy consumption.
The steady amount of power a battery can provide under normal operating conditions. This determines how many appliances you can run at once without exceeding the battery’s limits. The amount of energy (in kWh) a battery can deliver after accounting for the depth of discharge (DoD). The depth of discharge (DoD) of a battery represents the proportion of the battery’s total capacity that has been discharged. Our Energy Matters CEO, Roshan Ramnarain, featured a stunning home installed with BYD and Fronius solar technology on Renovate or Rebuild Episode 5. The Powerwall 3 has effectively replaced the Powerwall 2 for new purchases.

The best location to install a solar battery is inside your garage. Garages are well-insulated from factors such as heat, moisture and dust.... Finally, all AlphaESS systems purchased in Australia carry an Australian warranty – which is reassuring should anything go wrong with your system. Better yet, when you join Plico we handle all your warranty claims and provide ongoing support for the time  you are with us. Official solar battery partner, supporting community and grassroots footy across NSW.