by Thijs ten Brinck · Feb 22, 2022After hydrogen and nuclear energy, the home battery has now been chosen as the ideal transition solution without any drawbacks.Lyrical network operators, politicians, stuff sellers and report makers collectively bring the good news to the attention.The netting scheme for solar panels suggests that the electricity grid is an infinitely large and completely lossless free battery.Politicians have failed to abolish the lucrative netting scheme in time.Sunny afternoons are typically not the times when households use a lot of electricity.Most solar power is then directly fed into the grid.Politicians have failed to instruct grid operators to make the electricity grid suitable for this purpose.The existing grid can no longer handle the growing peak solar power everywhere on every beautiful summer day.Faced with failing inverters and a whooping shortage of manpower among grid operators, something has to be done.Fortunately, there is the home battery.After pleas from network operators, installers and sellers to subsidize batteries, VVD and ChristenUnie agreed last week with a proposal to give households 30% of the purchase as a gift.It is conceivable that solar power problems for the time being mainly occur in neighborhoods with fairly large owner-occupied homes, with residents with a fairly substantial electricity consumption.Residents who have installed a large number of solar panels in the past with too much subsidy.Some overlap with the traditional supporters of VVD and ChristenUnie cannot be ruled out.“Our goal is for 100,000 households to opt for a home and neighborhood battery in the next three years,” says Pieter Grinwis, member of parliament for the ChristenUnie.A little home battery costs around €10,000 including installation.The proposed new subsidy could therefore amount to around €3,000 per household.Based on the intended 100,000 households, this amounts to a total of €300 million. The chance that these millions will end up with households that need support to make ends meet at current energy prices is slim.If subsidized home batteries were to make many extra solar roofs possible, then it would be fair that the intended home battery subsidy mainly affects wealthy homeowners.But the home battery will not make Dutch electricity production green.On the contrary.A solar panel in the Netherlands only achieves its maximum power for a few tens of hours per year, see graph*.These are the afternoons when a few kilowatt hours may be lost in neighborhoods with a lot of solar panels.Only this part of the generation can 'save' home batteries, the remaining ±98% of the annual production finds a consumer immediately even without a home battery.The limited amount of solar power that makes a home battery usable in this way is by no means enough to compensate for the CO2 emissions in the battery's production.And certainly not enough to justify €300 million in subsidy.Given that the netting scheme will eventually be phased out, a subsidized home battery will first and foremost help the owner avoid energy tax.*Although Alliander is now also clamoring for a home battery subsidy, this grid operator knows full well that capping is the logical solution for occasional problem peaks in solar power.Alliander explains the advantages of peak shaving on this page.With only charging at the peaks of solar power from your own roof, the battery is out of work for the majority of the year.In order to get some use out of the expensive and space-consuming battery, households will also try to earn something with the battery on less sunny days.This can be done by acting independently or by engaging specialized companies.If electricity is cheap, for example because there is a strong wind in the North Sea, home batteries will then collectively draw electricity into the neighbourhood.A little home battery can charge with a capacity of 5 kilowatts.It is also very likely that electric cars, heat pumps and hot water boilers will also trade at such prices.The problematic peak in solar power, which now and then overloads the electricity grid locally thanks to the netting subsidy, may well pale in comparison to the combined demand for cheap wind power in the district in the coming years.This will still require grid reinforcement.There are certainly conceivable measures that control this scenario, but those measures are better to implement on batteries that are not behind the front door of 100,000 households.Saving €300 million in donations for redundant home batteries is by far the most cost-effective measure to prevent problems with batteries behind the front door.Just to be sure: Batteries are of great value in the energy transition, already in electric (lorry) cars and buses, in inland vessels and construction machinery.And even in sunny regions where peak solar power can be stored almost every afternoon.Apart from a few overseas municipalities, the Netherlands is not such a sunny country.With wind, solar and nuclear energy combined, opportunities are gradually arising in the Netherlands to use batteries in a meaningful way.Even then spreading batteries over Dutch homes is not a good idea.That is not the case in Belgium and Germany, even though they have been doing it there for years.Economy c.price dynamics may be much more important here.Long before the inverter is switched off, the electricity prices are already very low.in the morning, in the evening, outside the sun peak, they are already high.Storage can then become interesting….possibly in combination with a lower connection value to the grid, which is/will be very expensive or simply not available.The same applies for the longer periods of time (summer/winter).You can now eliminate the production of solar roofs in the summer by 'sladeren' with peak use of your heat pump in the winter.After completion, you get virtually nothing for your electricity in the summer and you pay the main price in the winter.Netting has done well to stimulate solar panels in the initial phase.At the moment it is a 'discriminator' for energy storage concepts.Unfortunately this is not free and especially for electrons very restrictive and expensive ...Generation and consumption are in phase for households.A battery must be very large for a household to store energy in the summer that can be used in the winter.It is better to install batteries at district NIVO by the grid operator.And to use the surplus differently… For example, hydrogen production.In my opinion, the discussion should not be whether home batteries are desirable or not, but whether subsidies on home batteries are desirable.In my opinion, this article makes it unequivocally clear (once again) that subsidy is undesirable and that netting must be phased out as soon as possible.This is independent of (my conviction) that home batteries or neighborhood batteries are very desirable, not only because of peak shaving for the extreme sun generation hours, in order to be able to mitigate the peak load, but also to improve the financial business case in (private) households by increasing home use and decrease connection value.Very handy with the peak of induction cooking and home charging in sight.Better than a non-performing home battery, it would be to allow the battery of an EV's to be used.Then you can use the surplus at night to feed the house.During the day, when you work at home, it is filled by the sun again.Could indeed be a good idea, just don't know how much the battery of the car will suffer from this.How many charge cycles does a battery last?After all, there are 365 days in a year and suppose that you use the battery for 200 days a year for home use instead of driving a car, then this may be a considerable attack on the potential use and costs of the car.I fear that as soon as there is a subsidy on home batteries, the price of those batteries will rise, so that the subsidy will ultimately yield nothing.I think neighborhood batteries are a better solution.For solar parks, it could possibly be required to place batteries next to it.Thanks for this article.I would say: “The limited amount of solar power that makes a home battery so usable is not nearly enough to compensate for the CO2 emissions in the production of the battery.”….would like to read what the CO2 footprint of such a battery is.Do you have more information about that?Solar panels in NL are at nominal/maximum capacity about 10% of the time of the year.That's a lot of hours!You can directly use the energy from those solar panels without a battery, but for about 35% without sending it to the grid.As a private individual, we therefore put a considerable burden on it and as owner of a solar park without own use completely.It also depends on the use and size of the battery in relation to the capacity of the panels whether it can take your peak off the grid.Also a bit strange that on sunny weekdays the cost of power consumption (and feed-in from the energy supplier's point of view) is still the most expensive.So (for 90% of the times when the grid in the district is not full on sunny days, of course) you are going to store expensive electricity during the day to use when the electricity is cheapest.There should be a distribution key for those who can continue to supply PV power to the grid in the afternoons during sunny (not too warm) summer days.Like those who already have their panels on 'peakshaving'.So if you already have (slightly) less yield because your panels are on the west or east.Or facing south in a steep corner.From an environmental point of view, a home battery could therefore be interesting if the batteries are reused from an electric car.By using the batteries in the car, the CO2 for the production is earned back after a year or two of driving around.If the batteries are no longer good enough for a car, they could be used as a home battery.After analyzing the energy consumption in my home (solar panels, heat pump, inverter suitable for the direct connection of a battery), I would like to comment on this publication.As soon as the netting scheme has been completely or partially phased out, a situation arises in which I feed back to and take more than 5 kWh per day from the grid at least from February to October.Provided that it is not chosen too large and delivered at a decent price, this offers a model in which it is possible to become a bit more independent of the grid.The problem that seasonal storage is not or hardly feasible for an individual is not included here.I've been thinking for years whether it would be an option to realize storage per district or housing block to relieve the grid.What is your idea about this?Indeed, the few hours that there are surpluses simply doing nothing with them is the most environmentally friendly for the time being.It is strange that no more attention is paid to the consumption of electricity when there is a high supply, so you can turn on your washing machine during the day or have a hot meal at lunchtime and that sort of simple thing!Costs nothing and problem solved.A home battery can possibly store 12KWH.That is the production of 1 day of solar energy from my panels.You would like to use it in the fall.That is only 1 day of use.A home battery is therefore a nonsensical device.Only if you need the power of the day in the evening.In the summer there is only, for example, an air conditioner or a car battery to supply the power.12KWH storage is not about anything.Netting is not a subsidy and only ensures that the government receives ODE, energy tax and VAT on electricity that I supply to, for example, the neighbors.But the neighbors also don't receive VAT if I sell them apples and pears from my garden.Grant schemes were negligible and empty in a few days.There is therefore no question of too much subsidy for solar panels.Billions go to fossil energy, can we go a little bit for green?Abolishing netting will hinder people from buying more panels than for their own use or not buying them at all.Owners of solar panels do not have to supply electricity to the neighbors, but use it themselves and the neighbors must have electricity from the North Sea.Abolish netting to reduce the number of solar panels to spare the network?No, limiting the peak power of inverters makes more sense.Every kWh is welcome in 98% and will reduce the electricity price.There is no overstimulation of solar panels on civilian roofs.There is overstimulation of solar parks and data centersI think that heat pumps and electric cars that receive so much subsidy will cause more problems.What happens when the Netherlands comes home in winter and charges the car and turns on the heat pump?Especially if we, including the industry, will soon be off gas and dependent on electricity.In that case, the government should encourage citizens to completely fill their roofs with panels and not waste the overproduction themselves because it does not yield anything anyway.Every kWh should be welcome to push the price.That is good for people with heat pumps and electric cars, but also for ordinary citizens.Abolishing netting to get less solar panels is a big mistake.Prefer a neighborhood battery.There are already batteries that have a large capacity of 1 mwh and larger.Combine this with small wind turbines and PV and a neighborhood can be self-sufficient.There are already wind turbines that can deliver 30 kWh per day, have a lifespan of 60-100 years, can handle wind speeds of up to 60 m/s, make virtually no noise and require maintenance.If the energy generated in the neighborhood remains, the kWh price can go down.There is only one thing about this system, only the citizens benefit optimally from it and that is not desirable.This site uses Akismet to reduce spam.See how your comment data is processed.Residential areas free of natural gas thanks to huge container of water and wind energyDanish animals for 100% recycling of unsorted residual waste'German subsidy on natural gas' mainly known to the Dutch?Lignite hydrogen for Tokyo Olympics almost on its waySubsidies for CO2 storage are now even more important due to cheap oilStartup converts Gelders household waste into CO2-negative building materialDraw hope from the most demotivating energy consumption graph'First consciously save, then regulate energy traffic'Gazprom considers making gas transport more sustainable with nuclear energyNo, you don't need a home battery.And no subsidy at allLays bakes paprika chips on wind energy, even on windless daysAnd another startup claiming hydrogen production for $1/kg$450M for Form Energy's 150-Hour Reversible Corrosion Battery32 independent studies confirm beermat about hydrogen boilerEnergy weather forecast on French national broadcaster this winterShell halts development of floating wind farms off Irish coastEuropean Parliament turns back the clock on green hydrogenCalifornia earmarks $1.4 billion for nuclear plant lifetime extension€30 mln for bromine flow battery of the Arnhem startup ElestorScotwind grows from 24.8 to 27.6 gigawatts of offshore windDo you want to replace your car with an electric bicycle?These are the benefitsGiant 120 MW heat pump for chemical group BASFSalzgitter allocates first €723 million for hydrogen steel plantShell takes subsidy for electrolyser of 400 instead of 200 megawattsUtrecht solar cycle path reaches 27% of estimated annual yieldCanadian nickel mine all-electric with 23 heavy machines on battery27 megawatt sewer heat pump for Overvecht district in UtrechtThis new Swiss super battery consists almost entirely of waterIs (a sustainable energy supply without) nuclear energy too expensive?Everyone wants green hydrogen, but where are the electrolysers?WattisDuurzaam is a one-man project, founded in early 2012 by Thijs ten Brinck.I write about generating, storing and saving (renewable) energy.WattisSustainable is freely accessible and financially independent.I am influenced by everything and everyone.I also cordially invite you for discussion.The comment fields are open.Read here about the who, what and why of WattisDuurzaam.nl.WattisSustainable is an initiative Thijs ten Brinck, supported by We-Boost.