Over the last few years, energy storage technologies, in particular lithium-ion batteries, have been improving from a technical perspective while decreasing in price, just like most technologies on the market often do. Take the computer for example, In 2004, an average laptop may have sold for about $1,200 and offered the user about 40 GB worth of hard drive storage capacity. But in today’s world, that same $1,200 laptop can easily get you a terabyte of storage. So back to batteries, Just a short while ago, most battery technologies available were were limited in capacity, yet expensive and hard to come by. But today, the market has expanded greatly, with a variety of battery technologies to choose from at affordable and scalable price points that are better enabling the integration of energy storage alongside solar PV systems.

Battery components are still relatively pricey, almost doubling the price per kilowatt of a solar installations without them. Still, that is way less than where the price once was and this means integration of energy storage is not off the table for the consumer. Batteries add a lot of features that make them worth the investment, critical use scenarios usually incorporate them regardless of cost, but the average consumer can now take advantage of them to improve their power generation perks.

For instance, you can have emergency power for the refrigerator, internet, or to make sure there are no interruptions while you spend time playing your latest computer game. You never really notice how are daily lives are dependent upon our machines until they have no power.

From cars to cell phones, battery tech has made a significant impact to how we function in the world today, In similar fashion, batteries will play a significant roll in how solar electric systems will be designed in the future. If the many advantages batteries brings to the table do not strengthen the solar industry, there is still one feature they have that will keep them in the spotlight unlike solar by itself, and that is their tax incentive,