EcoHome Lab: Viability of battery storage without PV

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While self generation is the obvious choice for people wanting to reduce their impact domestically as well improve their energy costs and security it is not an option in all homes. What is the benefit of adding a battery and inverter system to a home without solar PV? With the increased availability of flexible energy tariffs there is the potential to make significant savings on electricity bills. We are interested whether financial savings can offset the initial capital outlay and whether storing less carbon intensive energy is sufficient to offset losses and embedded carbon.

In order to take advantage of flexible energy tariffs, we require a system that:

• Can switch electrical circuits over to battery power
• Is relatively simple to retrofit onto an existing domestic supply
• Has low enough cost that the payoff time is not too excessive (10yr goal)
• Is automated to take advantage of flexible energy tariffs without user involvement
• Is robust and simple enough to not require excessive maintenance

In this session we will discuss the design and equipment choices of a system that could meet this spec. We aim to touch on all bases such as inverter and battery choice, integration to existing circuits and control software. This session aims to be an open discussion rather than a tutorial so strong opinions from attendees are encouraged.

Now in our regular monthly slot - every second Thursday of the month. A hangout for people taking control of their home energy usage and generation. We use open-source hardware and software to gain a better understanding of energy in our homes, how to make the best use of the energy we generate and reduce energy wasted.

Catch up on some of our previous sessions and presentations.

Unless there's a specific title to the session, it means we have no scheduled speaker and it will be an open session. We welcome contributions.

This is a CarbonCo-op (http://carbon.coop/) initiative working close together with OpenEnergyMonitor (https://openenergymonitor.org).

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Topics will include:

• Home energy monitoring.

• House energy performance assessment

• Sensors - electricity, gas, temperature, humidity, air quality...

• User interfaces, dashboards

• Smart houses and automation

• Aggregation of data sources

• Taking the power back! - Making better use of the surplus power we generate

Who is it for?

• Anyone with skills in physical electronics, web development or programming who wants to use that knowledge to reduce energy and carbon!