From $700 to $70: first Senec battery slashes summer power bill

The first Senec battery to be installed in an Australian home has helped the household reduce its summer power bill by 90%. The system, a 10 kWp Senec.Home battery, has helped the Spilsbury family in Perth’s western suburbs reduce its power consumption from the grid through maximizing self consumption for its 5 kW rooftop solar and by adapting consumption patterns.

Charging the battery during off-peak pricing periods can help to significantly reduce household power bills.

Graphic: Senec

Share

pv magazine Australia partnership

After almost 12-months of use after installation, the first Australian household to install a Senec intelligent battery storage system has delivered big power savings to its owner. The Spilsbury family, who live in the suburb of Nedlands, Perth, will see their investment repaid through power savings ‘well within’ the battery’s warranty period.

System owner, Wayne Spilsbury, reports that the system has allowed the household to massively reduce its summer power bill.

Wayne Spilsbury with his Senec.Home – installed in the garage.

Photo: Senec

“My Senec.Home has been installed for just under a year, and my energy bill has reduced a further 50% compared to having only solar panels,” said Wayne Spilsbury, in a statement.

Wayne pointed to the accompanying Senec App as having allow the family to shift power consumption to off-peak periods.

“Being able to view our consumption has really helped us adapt our behaviour. Through ‘peak shaving’ we aim to consume the majority of our power during the day, which gives us more freedom to use extra power in the evenings, on the luxuries!”

Senec made its market entry in Australia in 2017, and is currently installing its first batch of storage systems – which are produced in Germany.

The system is designed to not only to use rooftop PV electricity to charge the battery, but also draw from the grid in offpeak periods. This power can then be used during morning and evening peak consumption, and tariff, periods.

The latest version of the Senec.Home operation software has been designed to exploit time-of-use tariffs – ‘tariff arbitrage’ charging and discharging cycles. Off-peak power, under some time-of-use tariff structures, can be as cheap as $0.14/kWh, with peak prices a whopping $0.49/kWh. By partially charging the battery from the grid between 3am and 6am, the household’s morning peak consumption period can be covered by the off-peak power, after which the 5 kWp rooftop solar kicks in.

The Spilsbury household expect their power bill savings to more than pay for the system within the 10-year warranty period.

The Senec App.

Graphic: Senec

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.