The Future of Sustainable Energy

Self-consumption is when you produce electricity and then use those same electrons to power your home . This can happen in two ways: producing and using immediately (solar panels send electricity directly to your home appliances) or producing and storing for later (solar panels send electricity to a home battery, which you can draw from later).

Why is self-consumption important? How does it help you?

Historically, the vast majority of residential solar energy systems have been connected to the grid and set up on a net metering system. Most utilities offer “one-to-one” net metering, such as in the PECO utility territory, meaning you get full credit for the cost of the electricity you provide to the grid.

Since PECO has advantageous 1:1 net metering, why would you want to self consume using battery storage?

There are generally two scenarios why this makes financial sense. (Batteries always make sense for back-up power)

  1. Time-of-Use Rates: Many utilities including PECO have a Time-of-Use electric tariff option. This means that instead of paying the same price for electricity 24/7, you are charged (and you charge PECO when you export back to grid) different pricing during different times of the day. Generally there 3 different pricing tiers. (12-6am-Super Off Peak Rate, 6am-2pm and 6pm-12am-Off Peak Rate, and 2pm-6pm Peak Rate. The goal with self consumption is to never pull power from the utility during the Peak Rate and pull as much as possible during the Super Off Peak Rate. You can accomplish this with a properly designed and sized battery system from Pennstar Solar LLC. The net effect is a lower overall weighted cost of electricity and you get backup during blackouts as an added bonus.
  2. Peak Demand Shaving: This generally applies to commercial customers who aren’t just charged for the Energy they consume (in kWh) but ALSO for the peak Power they require (in kW) which is generally measured at the highest 15 minute increment of demand required per month. You can set your battery storage to absorb or shave this surge and have a significant reduction is these demand charges.

Reach out to Pennstar Solar LLC for more information. We install solar and battery storage is towns and cities such as Philadelphia, Havertown, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Wayne, and much more.