Every solar power requires a battery source to work efficiently.
There are multiple models to choose from, but we’ve rounded up the four most popular choices among consumers.
Here are their pros and cons:
Lithium-ion (LMO, NMC, NCA, LFP)
Lithium-ion batteries are dominant in the electric car industry.
This type of solar batteries have high energy density and a rather low self-discharge. Lithium-ion batteries are in general low maintenance and a periodic discharge is not necessary.
There are 4 main lithium-ion types of battery often used for large scale solar battery storage applications:
Lithium Manganese Oxide (LMO)
+ Fast charging
– Only recently entering the C&I market
Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC)
+ High specific energy
– Only recently entering the C&I market
Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide (NCA)
+ High specific energy and more stability
– Relatively new
Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP)
+ long cycle life, don’t require ventilation or cooling
– Risk of thermal runaway
Lead acid (Flooded, VRLA)
Lead acid batteries are the cheapest option out of the four. However, they also have the lowest self-discharge rate among the others.
Lead acid batteries also charge slowly (14+ hours) and have a low specific energy.
Their already limited cycle life can be reduced by repeated deep cycling. Moreover, they aren’t environmentally friendly. If not properly discarded, lead acid batteries can contaminate the environment and be a threat to human health and nature as their main two components are sulfuric acid and lead.
Here are the two types of Lead Acid batteries:
Flooded
+ Reliable
– Requires watering, transportation restrictions, need ventilation
Valve Regulated Lead-Acid (VRLA)
+ valves to regulate off-gassing,little to no maintenance, can be installed in hard-to-reach applications.
– Sensitive to temperature
Nickel based (NiCd)
Nickel based batteries are great for large-scale energy storage projects. They perform great in all temperatures.
Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd) is the most common Nickel based battery technology used. They are more suitable for off-grid installation as they are a reliable backup system and don’t require regular maintenance but lack of maintenance will reduce their cycle counts.
Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd)
+ long cycle life, don’t require ventilation or cooling
– Risk of thermal runaway
Flow (RFB, HFB)
Flow batteries are the newest energy storage option in the market.
They are called flow batteries because they have a water based solution of zinc-bromide inside them. They have greater design flexibility, thus allowing more combination between storage capacity and power output capacity.
Redox flow batteries (RFB)
+ flexible energy storage technology
– low energy density, expensive, very large
Hybrid flow batteries
+ flexible energy storage technology
– low charge and discharge rates, expensive, very large
Got more questions to kickstart your solar journey?
Our team at Solaready PH can help!
Contact us today at (+632) 7 957 3236 or (+63) 917 534 8178. You can also email your inquiries at inquiry@solaready.ph.
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