The SolarEdge Energy Bank: The complete review

SolarEdge has long been a leader in the solar industry, offering some of the most popular inverters and DC power optimizers worldwide. The company launched its own home battery solution in October 2021, and less than two years later SolarEdge's solar-plus-storage 'Rate Saver' solution serves to boost the value of solar investments in an increasingly self-consuming market. These new product launches are part of SolarEdge's home energy solution called SolarEdge Home, designed to easily integrate solar-plus-storage with a number of SolarEdge smart home devices, including the SolarEdge Home Electric Vehicle (EV) Charger.

Storage is an integral part of the transition to smart electric homes, and SolarEdge is joining the growing list of companies to release new solar battery technology. So how does SolarEdge's Home Battery differ from these companies, and what makes it unique?

This is an unbiased review: EnergySage is not paid to review brands or products, nor do we earn money from affiliate advertising in this article. The content of this blog is based on research and information available at the time of writing. Learn more about our mission and how we make money as a company.

The SolarEdge Home Battery is designed to seamlessly integrate with solar panel systems and is particularly useful as a way to maximize your savings from solar in the event that your utility has reduced or removed net metering (like in California), introduced time-of-use rates or instituted demand charges for residential electricity consumers. Additionally, installing a storage solution like the Home Battery with a solar energy system can allow you to maintain a sustained power supply during both day and night, as long as you store enough power from your solar panels when the sun is shining.

As with many other home battery products, the Home Battery is sized for day-to-day use at your home and is primarily designed to be paired with a solar panel system. When your solar panels produce more electricity than you can use in your home, you can store the excess electricity in the battery system instead of sending it back to the grid (as you would under a typical net-metered setup if you had solar without a battery). Later, when your panels aren't producing enough electricity to meet your home's needs, you can use the stored energy in your battery instead of having to buy it from your utility company.

SolarEdge offers two battery options: Home Battery 400V and Home Battery 48V. The Home Battery 400V integrates with a single-phase inverter, and the Home Battery 48V integrates with a three-phase inverter. Two key things make SolarEdge's batteries stand out from other storage solutions: efficiency and integration. SolarEdge describes its battery as having "industry-leading" efficiency and seamless integrations with other SolarEdge products to create one cohesive smart electric home.

When evaluating the Home Battery, there are various important metrics and technical specifications to keep in mind. Among the most important are the size of the battery (power and capacity), its chemistry, depth of discharge, and roundtrip efficiency.

Size

Two important metrics to keep in mind when comparing a Home Battery to other home storage options are power and usable capacity. Power (measured in kilowatts, or kW) determines the maximum amount of electricity that can be output at a single time, while usable capacity (measured in kilowatt-hours, or kWh) is a measure of the maximum amount of electricity stored in your battery on a full charge. The Home Battery 400V includes a maximum power rating of 7.5 kW to go along with 9.7 kWh of usable capacity, and the Home Battery 48V offers 4.6 kWh of usable capacity. They also offer 5 kW of continuous power to allow homeowners to power more or higher wattage devices for longer in the event of an outage.

The Home Battery is modular, meaning it can be stacked together to create even larger, more powerful battery systems. You can stack up to three 400Vs and up to five 48Vs per inverter.

Think of your battery like water running through a pipe. The usable energy capacity is the amount of water available to push through the pipe, while power is the size of the pipe itself. Larger pipes allow more water to flow through at once, which depletes the water faster. Similarly, a battery with a high power rating can deliver more electricity at one time but will burn through its available energy capacity faster too.

A battery's power determines what appliances you can run with it at the same time, while usable capacity determines how long those appliances can be run. Batteries with a higher power rating are capable of powering more robust appliances or many appliances at once, while batteries with a higher usable capacity can store more total energy and thus can run your appliances for longer periods of time without needing to recharge.

Basic functionality

The functionality of one solar power battery next to another can vary. Some batteries have excellent off-grid capabilities, while others offer software solutions specific to rate arbitrage. Here are the important qualities of the SolarEdge Home Battery:

Backup power

The Home Battery is designed to support backup power capabilities. In the event of severe weather, a special feature of the mySolarEdge app called Weather Guard will send you alerts based on data from the National Weather Service and automatically charge your battery to full capacity before the storm. SolarEdge also offers a Backup Interface product that will automatically power your devices (from your entire home to selected loads) when a power outage occurs. The Backup Interface includes a built-in Auto Transformer and Energy Meter, meaning fewer boxes on your wall and a faster (and often cheaper) installation.

Coupling

When considering the wiring of your storage system, there are two main options: alternating current (AC) coupling and direct current (DC) coupling. Solar panels generate DC electricity, and solar batteries store DC electricity, whereas your home's appliances consume AC electricity. With AC-coupled storage systems, the energy stored in your battery will need to be inverted three separate times before it can be used, which leads to efficiency losses. The Home Battery is a DC-coupled system, enabling its high round-trip efficiency because there are fewer AC inversions. However, it's important to note that the Home Battery only integrates with the SolarEdge inverters.

Installation

By integrating the Home Battery with a SolarEdge inverter, SolarEdge has designed its storage solution to minimize the number of main electrical panel upgrades needed. According to SolarEdge, the Home Battery can be installed in just one day, allowing you quick access to features like backup power and rate arbitrage.

Chemistry

The Home Battery is a lithium-ion storage product. Specifically, the 400V battery is a lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) battery, and the 48V battery is a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery. Both NMC and LFP are common lithium-ion battery technologies and for good reason. Relative to other types of batteries, NMC batteries are known for their high energy density (the amount of energy they can store relative to the physical space they take up), while LFP batteries have a high power rating. To learn more about how different lithium-ion battery chemistries stack up against one another, check out our overview of battery chemistry differences.

Rate Saver

In post-NEM 3.0 California, the SolarEdge Home Battery solar-plus-storage system can significantly cut installation times and reduce the battery system cost for homeowners by up to 38 percent. In addition to the basic functionality of SolarEdge Home Batteries, this next-generation software known as "Rate Saver" maximizes Time-of-Use rates through its NEM 3.0-specific battery management algorithms. With Rate Saver, stored energy is discharged at peak rates autonomously to avoid high utility costs and further reduce payback periods.

Learn more about Rate Saver for NEM 3.0.

Performance metrics

Two key ways to evaluate the performance of a solar battery are its depth of discharge and roundtrip efficiency.

Depth of discharge (DoD) indicates the percentage of a battery's energy that has been discharged relative to the overall capacity of the battery. Because the useful life of a battery decreases each time you charge, discharge, and re-charge it, many battery manufacturers specify a maximum DoD level for optimal battery performance. In general, batteries with a higher depth of discharge are considered higher-quality products. The SolarEdge Home Battery boasts a depth of discharge of 100 percent across all battery sizes.

Roundtrip efficiency is a measure of the electrical losses involved with charging and discharging a particular battery. The higher the percentage, the more efficiently the battery is able to convert incoming electricity into stored electricity and then back into usable electricity. SolarEdge Home Battery has a roundtrip efficiency of 94.5 percent; this means that for every 10 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity you put into the battery, you'll receive 9.45 kWh of output.

In most cases, homes with a Home Battery will charge and discharge their battery every day. So, how long will the Home Batteries last? The Home Battery comes with a 10-year warranty, and SolarEdge guarantees that the battery will maintain at least 70 percent of its capacity to hold a charge during that time period. Importantly, SolarEdge does not include a cycles or throughput clause, which can often shorten the warranty term for other battery products.

SolarEdge's battery technology is similar to other rechargeable batteries, both large and small. As time goes on, the battery loses some of its ability to hold a charge. Think of how the battery life of a brand-new smartphone compares to one that is a few years old. As you continually charge and drain your phone's battery, it starts to lose some of its ability to hold a charge.

The battery life of your SolarEdge Home Battery will deteriorate in the same way, but that isn't indicative of a product flaw. All batteries lose some of their ability to hold a charge over time after extended usage, whether it's an electric vehicle battery, a home energy battery, or a rechargeable AA battery. This is why SolarEdge offers a warranty that guarantees a certain percentage of storage capacity.

If you want to compare individual battery models side-by-side, our battery Buyer's Guide lets you select products and compare them based on efficiency, capacity, power, and more.

A solar battery installation isn't as simple as a list price for a component – depending on your electrical setup, among other factors, installation costs can vary widely.  As a rough estimate, you can expect it to cost between $10,000 and $20,000 for a full system installation.

If you want to install the Home Battery as part of a solar-plus-storage system, battery costs are just one part of the equation.  A solar panel system costs anywhere from $17,430 to $23,870, depending on where you live and the type of equipment you choose.

That may sound like a lot of money, but installing a solar-plus-storage system can be a worthwhile investment. Whether or not the Home Battery makes sense for you is determined by the way that your electric utility structures its rates, as well as your reasons for installing a solar battery (i.e., if you want backup power in the event of a grid outage). Additionally, financial incentives can reduce your home energy storage installation costs significantly.

Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, all residential storage systems over 3 kWh in size are eligible for the 30 percent Investment Tax Credit (ITC). Depending on where you live, you may also have access to financial incentives at the state and local levels. For instance, if you live in California, you could get a cash rebate through the Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP).

Whether you want to install a SolarEdge Home Battery or another home battery pack, you will need to work with a certified installer. Adding energy storage technology to your home is a complicated process that requires electrical expertise, certifications, and knowledge of the best practices required to install a solar-plus-storage system correctly.

A qualified EnergySage-approved company can give you the best recommendation about the SolarEdge Home Battery and other energy storage options available to homeowners today. If you are interested in receiving competing installation quotes for solar and energy storage options from local installers near you, simply join the EnergySage Marketplace today and indicate what products you're interested in your profile's preferences section.