Independent with solar energy and storage

The May family’s PV system is quickly paying for itself, as they consume the majority of its solar energy themselves

So that the investment costs of their photovoltaic system pay off quickly, the May family use as much of their solar energy as possible themselves. Experts call this maximising one’s self-consumption. The May family does this quite cleverly by switching on appliances that need a lot of power when the sun is providing the most energy.

This Australian family’s biggest electrical loads are the air conditioning and the pool pump. They have now set these to run when the roof is producing the most energy. In other households this might be a dishwasher or heat pump.

The May family stores their PV electricity and is even more independent

Three years after their PV system was installed, the May family decided to expand it. The great thing about photovoltaic systems with Fronius inverters is that components can be added later. For the May family this meant installing a battery. This enables them to store the solar energy they do not need during the day.

In the evening and at night, the electricity used in the home also comes from the sun, thanks to the storage system. This means that the May family hardly needs to buy any electricity from the grid and they can maximise their self-consumption.

The May family even has power during an outage

When it comes to power outages, the May family are covered – the combination of a Fronius inverter and BYD battery storage system enables them to draw power from the PV system in the event of a power outage. And that is not just for small devices, such as charging a smartphone, but also for three-phase loads such as an electric cooker.