The home battery market is getting more crowded these days. Previously, we compared the Tesla Powerwall 2 with the Sonnen Eco 10. Today, we’re profiling a new battery in town. Meet the LG Chem Resu 10H.
The Benefits of Home Battery Backup
Before going through the specs, let’s quickly review the benefits associated with having energy storage for your home. The LG Chem Resu 10H offers two important, yet distinct benefits to its users. First, homeowners can utilize Time-Of-Use electricity rates to their advantage. When energy demand (and hence rates) are low, users can purchase and store energy in their battery to be used at a time when demand and rates are high. The cost per kilowatt-hour at peak hours is often double or triple the baseline rate. If you have solar without storage, your panels likely generate enough electricity during the day to cover your usage, but any excess is exported to the electrical grid.
Check this video to know more about kilowatt-hour.
This requires you to purchase electricity from the grid when rates are still high in the early evening. The figure below illustrates Southern California Edison’s Time-Of-Use rates during the summer. Time-Of-Use rates vary seasonally and by the utility provider. Before purchasing a home battery system, it’s important to know your utility’s rate structure. At Solar.com, we’ll happily walk you through this process.
Can Home Battery Backup Prevent Power Outages?
The other primary benefit of adding energy storage to your home is arguably more important yet difficult to quantify. Virtually all of us have experienced power outages at some point, and let’s face it: they suck. They’re unexpected, disruptive, and stressful. You may be eating dinner at home with your family, or just watching T.V., and suddenly, everything goes dark. You hear your appliances shut down, and an unsettling feeling seeps in. You peek at your neighbors’ homes and notice that their power is out too. You’re now at the mercy of your utility company to restore power. If you’re lucky, the outage lasts only for a couple of minutes. If not, you may need to wait until the morning.
Hopefully, you don’t have work to complete or other urgent responsibilities to fulfill. While it’s safe to say that long-term power outages occur rarely, it is true that disturbances are on the rise in the U.S., partly due to an increased incidence of severe weather events as a result of climate change. States that import a lot of their electricity also tend to have more power outages– California, which obtains much of its electricity from neighboring states, leads the nation in power outages by far. Having backup power in case of grid interruption provides a level of convenience and security (not to mention a place of refuge for your neighbors). It is difficult to put a price tag on peace of mind.
The Resu 10H can provide backup power when combined with a SolarEdge StorEdge inverter, which provides a single-inverter (DC-coupled) solution for both a solar PV system and a home battery, reducing energy loss and overall system costs. SolarEdge is a highly reputable and bankable company that has offered solutions for solar PV and battery systems since 2006. The Resu 10H home battery is manufactured by LG Chem, an early-mover in the lithium-ion battery industry that has since become one of the world’s largest producers. It currently manufactures batteries for several electric vehicles, including the Chevrolet Volt, Ford Focus, and Hyundai Sonata. With its proven track record, LG is a veteran in the energy storage space. Its parent company, LG Corporation, also produces solar panels. A tabled summary of the Resu 10H’s specs can be found below, with full specs available here (near the bottom-left-hand corner of the last page).
Explore Home Battery Backup Options
When you feel ready to explore battery options for your home, be sure to check out Solar.com’s battery webpage and fill out an interest form. As an added benefit, California recently introduced a rebate under the Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP), which was assessed and broken down in our recent blog. (Under this program, the LG Chem Resu 10H has been the second-most popular battery system behind the Tesla Powerwall.) Ultimately, a home battery is best paired with a solar system, whose excess production gets safely stored in the battery to be used when the sun isn’t shining. It’s a perfect synergy.
