How Batteries Are Making Solar More Affordable Than Ever

Installing a Solar System in your home will generate huge benefits for you and your family.

From the first moment you turn it on, you can literally stand at the window and watch the sun rise on a new dawn of lower power bills and cleaner energy.

Harrisons Managing Director, Phil Harrison, says the best way to truly unleash the potential of Solar, “And hopefully keep some energy industry executives awake at night,” is to add a battery to the System, as this will allow for free, stored energy to be used most or all of the time.

“Using a pure, carbon-free energy source for your family's power needs feels pretty good,” Harrison says. “It might be small, but just knowing you're doing something real for the environment, in a way you can actually control, is very satisfying.”

He gives a cheeky grin across the table at Harrison's head office in Takapuna.

“The other thing that's pretty satisfying is watching your power bills getting smaller over time.”

Harrison says the new System by Panasonic is perfect for a large number of New Zealand family homes, and makes Solar more affordable than ever. Harrisons offers a number of battery solutions, including Systems from Tesla, LG and Panasonic. He thinks at 13 kilowatts, the Tesla System is perfect for bigger houses with larger bills, but is probably too big for smaller houses and families.

“Our new Panasonic is 6.5 kilowatts, so its half the size of the Tesla. What a lot of people don't know is the cells inside the Tesla battery are made by Panasonic anyway.”

Designed for home use, Panasonic is an all-in-one System, with the hybrid inverter and battery pre-wired and beautifully contained within the same, streamlined cabinet.

“It makes for a pretty slick looking install,” Harrison says, “and it makes it pretty convenient, too. The only other thing you need is the Panels on the roof. Then you've got your own personal power station, rocking away.”

Harrison says his installers can wire it so a customer's house will still have power in an outage, meaning they can go fully off-grid in an emergency if needed, something not all batteries are capable of.

“How cool is that?”

Harrison says the Panasonic's best feature is likely its price.

“I think it means Solar is now fully affordable for a lot of customers. Now we can provide people with PV Panels and a battery System at a really good price, from a premium brand. The big thing is, a battery means people can use all of the power they're generating.”

Harrison says the System comes with, “Some really clever smarts. The software provides heaps of monitoring, so you can see how much you're saving, when you should be using it. Plus, it will always charge the battery first, before it will return any power back to the grid.”

Harrions will always seek to customise a PV System to the perfect size for the battery, maximising the amount of power generated and stored, “as ultimately, that's what brings the bills down.”

Call Harrisons today on 0800 00 33 54 or use the online form for your at-home consultation!

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