A solar system backed up with a battery bank will allow you to fully enjoy your electrical appliance even during power blackouts. But how long can you battery storage supply electricity?
The answer depends on two factors: your storage capacity and your electricity usage.
– Battery storage capacity
Your storage capacity is the main factor that influences the amount of power it can supply. Obviously, the more capacity you have the longer it lasts.
The capacity is measured in kWh and indicated the amount of energy available.
Let’s take for example a household with a 5kWh storage system. During a power outage and assuming the battery is fully charged, they will be able to us almost 5kWh. Why almost? Because the chemical composition of the battery makes must always be a minimum charge present. This represents usually around 5-10% of the capacity.
– Your electricity usage
Now that you know how much energy you have available, the next step is to figure out how much energy you use. You can find your daily electricity usage on your electricity bill (Read our blog post “How to read your electricity bill”) to give you an idea of your consumption.
The smartest thing to do in case of blackouts is to lower your consumption and run only the essential appliances and devices. The more you use, the shorter your stored energy will last.
Cooling and heating, for example, use a huge amount of electricity: around 1.5kWh! Pool pumps an be the largest user of electricity: a pool filtration pump with a 1.3 kW capacity use appro 1.3kWh. Make sure you turn them down or completely off.
On the other hand, charging your phone or laptop doesn’t use a lot of energy. Phones use 2 to 6 watts to fully charge. An average 14-15 inch laptop uses 0.06kWh on average when plugged in. An hour of PlayStation uses approximately 0.15 kWh.
Appliances like lights and refrigerators are probably the most important things to power in case of blackouts. A modern star-rated refrigerator uses around 1-2 kWh of electricity a day while a 100 W incandescent bulb uses 0.1kWh (LED lights)
To conclude, if you lower your energy use to the minimum needed, it would be possible for most households to use around 5or 6 kWh per day. In this case, a 5kwh battery storage would last one day!
For more information visit our Energy Storage page, or contact the Energis team on 1300 782 217 or via email at sales@energis.com.au
