Store the electricity your panels generate and use it after dark, on cloudy days, and through peak-rate hours. We specify the battery around your actual load, not the biggest one on the shelf, and only recommend units backed by major manufacturers and independently underwritten guarantees.
MCS-vetted installers · Major manufacturer batteries · Independently underwritten guarantees · £1M Public Liability
A well-sized battery turns solar from a daytime bonus into a genuine grid hedge. The wrong battery, too big, too small, or the wrong chemistry for your loads, sits on the wall costing money it will never earn back. This is one of the easiest parts of a solar install to over-sell, and one of the parts we spend the most time getting right on your behalf.
Battery storage is a wall-mounted or floor-standing unit that stores electricity from your solar array, from cheap overnight tariffs, or both. We arrange the specification, the installation by an MCS-registered engineer, the inverter or hybrid integration, and the commissioning paperwork. You end up with a system that shifts your consumption off peak-rate imports and keeps essential circuits running through short grid outages.
Battery storage suits homes that already have or are adding solar, homes on time-of-use tariffs (Octopus Go, Cosy, Agile and similar), EV owners charging overnight, and anyone in a rural EX, TQ, TA or PL postcode who has felt more than one grid outage in the last two winters. It also suits homes with heat pumps or high evening baseloads where daytime generation would otherwise export cheaply and re-import expensively.
The best time to add a battery is at the same time as the solar install, the hybrid inverter, wiring, and commissioning are all done once. Retrofitting later is entirely possible and often the right call if cashflow is the deciding factor, but it usually costs a little more in labour and sometimes in extra hardware.
Battery sizing is a load-shape problem, not a headline-kWh problem. It needs half-hourly consumption data, a realistic view of solar generation on your roof, and an honest look at how you actually use electricity. A professional install also handles the DNO notification, the correct earth-loop configuration, and the backup circuits: none of which are optional or trivial.
Batteries are the part of a solar system that homeowners regret most often, almost always because they were sold on capacity rather than fit. Once the unit is on the wall and commissioned, changing it is expensive.
A 10–20 minute call to understand your bill, your home and what you actually want from your battery installation. No sales script, Dan answers his own phone.
Dan attends personally, flies a licensed drone over the roof, and designs the system in paid bespoke software, not a free web tool. Site visits typically within 2–3 days of your call.
Around three like-for-like quotes from the small panel of MCS installers we vet against seven strict criteria. Every installer pays us the same commission, so there is no hidden reason to favour one.
You contract directly with your chosen installer. They complete the work to MCS standards, and we cross-check the commissioning paperwork, EPVS registration and grant applications on your behalf.
You keep Dan's number. Independently underwritten guarantees stand even if the installer changes shape, and any dispute is escalated by us on your behalf.
Sizing based on half-hourly consumption data and realistic solar generation, not headline kWh figures.
Configured against your tariff | Octopus Go, Cosy, Agile | so overnight cheap units are used deliberately, not accidentally.
Backup circuit design where you want it, so the fridge, boiler, and router keep running through short grid outages.
Batteries from major, reputable manufacturers with parts supply chains you can rely on in year eight.
Installer workmanship warranty independently underwritten, alongside the manufacturer's own battery warranty.
DNO notification, earth-loop configuration, and hybrid inverter integration all handled by MCS-registered engineers.
A selection of battery storage projects brokered across Devon & Somerset, every one designed on the roof it lives on.
Batteries are a fast-moving corner of the industry. Chemistries change, warranties change, and manufacturer availability changes. This is what we currently look at when specifying a home battery.
Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) has become the standard chemistry for home batteries. It runs cooler, cycles more times before degrading, and is more tolerant of being kept at high state of charge, all useful for a battery that lives on a garage wall in Devon. Older nickel-cobalt chemistries are still around and are not necessarily wrong, but LFP is usually the right starting point for new installs.
A hybrid (DC-coupled) inverter charges the battery directly from the panels without an extra conversion step and is the cleanest design for a fresh install. AC-coupled batteries retrofit onto an existing solar system by charging from the AC side of the existing inverter, slightly less efficient, but often the right pragmatic choice when adding a battery to a system already on the wall.
The right capacity is roughly equal to the electricity you actually shift, the evening and overnight load between when the sun stops generating and when the peak-rate window ends. For most Devon and Somerset households that is somewhere between 5 and 13 kWh of usable capacity. Bigger is not better; bigger simply costs more without earning more.
Not every battery provides backup power by default. Where backup matters, rural properties, home-workers, medical dependencies, we specify units and gateways designed to island cleanly from the grid and power a defined circuit. This is a design decision that has to be made before the install, not retrofitted after.
Good LFP batteries carry ten-year manufacturer warranties, often expressed as a minimum end-of-warranty state of health (for example, 60% or 70% of original capacity retained). Cycle life on major-brand units typically runs to 6,000 cycles or more. We check the small print on cycle count, temperature range, and what happens if the manufacturer changes hands.
Can't see yours? Ask Dan directly, no bots, no call centre.
Independent design and installer selection for roof-mounted solar systems, tailored to your consumption and roof.
Backup and full self-sufficient setups. Keep the lights on, and still export to the grid.
Home charging paired with your solar and battery, including OZEV grant guidance where you qualify.
Ten to twenty minutes on the phone with Dan. Independent view, no obligation, no commission bias, every installer on our panel pays the exact same rate.
MCS-vetted installers · £1M Public Liability · Independently underwritten guarantees
