Of course, if you only take advantage of solar panels during the day, you’re going to have to spend money connecting to the traditional electrical grid at night. This will mean that, although you continue saving money, you will not take advantage of everything possible and will not amortize the investment you have made in your solar panels sooner.
Solar panels at night
Yes, you will have several options to take advantage of the energy that you generate during the day and that you do not need, to use it overnight. In this way, the savings will be greater. The idea is to be able to accumulate what you are not using during the day and use it when the sun goes down, when the panels begin to lose their effectiveness.
Virtual battery of the marketer
The first option is to have a virtual battery from the marketer. It’s about a extra service that energy companies offer to their customers. It consists of accumulating the surplus energy you produce so that, when you need it, you can use it again without incurring a cost.
During the day, you will actually consume a small amount of what your solar panels produce. The rest, what is left over, is what is known as surplus energy. That excess energy will accumulate in a virtual battery. The marketer will take advantage of that surplus and, in exchange, will allow you to use a part when you need it.
For example, Repsol currently has a virtual battery with €0.14/kWh for export and also for import. That means it is a real battery. Other companies have similar products and it is a matter of you looking at what the one you have contracted offers or, if necessary, changing to another.
Physical battery installed at home
Of course, you will also have the option of having a physical battery installed at home. This is an investment, logically. It is one more expense that you will have to bear when installing solar panels. However, it is something that you will undoubtedly recover as time goes by.
The price will vary depending on the model and, especially, the capacity. Nowadays, you can calculate, more or less, around €4,000 for a battery with a capacity of 5kWh. If you need more, you will have to make a larger investment; If you don’t need as much, you can save more money and have a cheaper one.
portable power station
The third option to be able to take advantage of the solar energy from your panels also at night, is to use a portable power station. You can opt for one of about 2kWh and thus charge it during the day, when you can take advantage of the solar panels you have at home, and save money by not having to use traditional energy at night.
For example, you can check out this 1.8kWh Ecoflow portable power station. It is a good quality model, with a capacity that may be sufficient for basic consumption during nighttime hours. However, as we have indicated, there are different options, in case you want to invest less.
Therefore, these are the options to take advantage of your solar panels also at night. You can save energy and pay less if you have one of the alternatives that we have shown in this article.
