A solar battery stores the extra power your panels make during the day so your home can run on it later, through the evening and overnight, instead of exporting it to the grid for a small credit.
How do solar batteries work?
Through the middle of the day your panels usually make more power than your home is using. Without a battery that surplus is exported and you receive a feed-in credit for it. With a battery, the surplus charges the battery first, and your home runs on your own stored power once the sun goes down.
Panels do not store anything. They convert sunlight into DC electricity, an inverter manages the flow between the panels, the battery and your home, and the battery holds that electricity chemically until you draw on it. Most home batteries sold in Australia are lithium based.
Batteries are arranged differently. High voltage units pair with a matching hybrid inverter, AC coupled units have their own inverter built in, and modular units stack. Either way it is electrical work, and a poor battery installation is a real safety risk.
How much do solar batteries cost?
We do not publish a battery price, because an honest number depends on your place: the usable capacity you need, whether your inverter can stay or a hybrid has to go in, the switchboard work, and where the battery can be mounted.
What we can be specific about is what comes off the price. The federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program takes around 30% off the upfront cost of eligible battery systems from 5kWh to 100kWh nominal capacity, delivered as small-scale technology certificates and calculated on the first 50kWh of usable capacity. Since 1 May 2026 it has been tiered, with the full rate on the first 14kWh of usable capacity, 60% of the rate from 14kWh to 28kWh, and 15% from 28kWh to 50kWh.
There is no income or means test and no application to lodge. We claim the certificates and take the value off your invoice. The rate steps down every six months and the scheme ends in 2030, so waiting costs you certificates. Solar Victoria's interest-free battery loans have closed, so this is the main battery incentive in Victoria.
We size systems from your last 12 months of electricity bills, so the quote matches how your household actually uses power. Bigger is not automatically better. Capacity you never discharge is money on the wall.
How long do solar batteries last?
How long a battery lasts depends on the product and how hard it is worked, so we will not put a figure on it. What we can explain is what shortens that life.
Batteries age through cycling and through conditions. Every charge and discharge is a cycle, so a battery emptied and refilled hard every day works harder than one that is lightly used. Heat matters too, which is why a garage or a shaded wall beats a west wall through a Bendigo summer.
The figure that matters is the warranty. Home battery warranties are normally a term of years plus a guaranteed energy throughput or a retained capacity percentage at the end of it, and the conditions differ between brands. Ask for the warranty document for the exact battery you are quoted and we will go through it with you.
Are solar batteries worth it?
It comes down to the gap between what you pay for grid power and what you are credited for exporting. A feed-in credit is worth less than the power you buy back after dark, so every kilowatt hour you store and use yourself is worth more than the same one exported. That is self-consumption, and it is where a battery earns its keep.
So storage does more for some households than others. If your panels export a lot through the day and your big loads land in the evening, a battery shifts that power to when you need it. If someone is home all day and already uses most of what the roof makes, more panels may do more. A battery will not remove your bill either, because daily supply charges stay.
Which batteries we install
Our battery range at Midland Solar is Sungrow, BYD, SigEnergy, GoodWe and Franklin. We match the battery to your inverter and your site rather than pushing one brand, and we show you the usable capacity and warranty conditions for the model we quote. We install grid-connected systems only.
Frequently asked questions
Can I add a battery to a solar system I already have?
Usually yes. An AC coupled battery brings its own inverter and can sit alongside your existing solar inverter, and sometimes a hybrid inverter can be retrofitted instead. We check your switchboard and roof first.
Will a battery keep the lights on in a blackout?
Not automatically. Backup during an outage depends on the battery and inverter being set up for it, with the circuits you want kept running wired to a backup supply. Tell us if that matters.
Do I have to apply for the federal battery discount?
No. There is no application and no income test. We claim the certificates and show the discount on your quote.
If you are weighing up storage, we will look at your bills and tell you honestly whether a battery stacks up. Read about our battery storage options, or book an assessment through our contact page.
