¿How does the transmission grid benefit self-consumption with a virtual battery?

The benefits of the grid for self-consumption batteries

The ideal solution is to consume the energy generated by the combination of solar panels and virtual battery. This is possible in some places where there is no need for a continuous power supply, but this is far from common. It can work if, for example, you have a small workshop with electric tools that you use occasionally, and where the work can be delayed or brought forward to the time when the solar power generated is available.

It is not practical to disconnect all your domestic consumption when you are not generating energy. In most cases, this is absolutely impossible. Consider, for example, that you would not be able to refrigerate food, or you would not be able to run electric lights once the sun went down.

Production and consumption do not normally occur at the same pace. There are going to be times when you produce energy that you do not need, and others when you need more energy than your solar panels can provide. Batteries can be a partial solution to this problem. They can help to balance this misalignment as long as they have enough charging capacity. Outside this margin, you will waste energy or suffer a shortage of power.

The transmission grid can act as a back-up system that allows you to:

• Benefit from surplus production.
• Get the energy you need at peak consumption hours or when there is little or no production.

What capacity should your virtual battery have?

Not all the batteries that enable users to engage in self-consumption are alike. The ones that must be discharged and recharged many times and those with greater capacity are more complicated. In some cases, this may entail disadvantages in terms of price, space, contamination, risks for the building, and so on.

You should therefore always ask yourself how interested you are in accumulating energy. Otherwise, instead of gaining more autonomy, you may be sacrificing vital aspects of what makes your home or business a good place to live or work.

You should think of energy storage as a series of opportunities that arise when your solar panels and virtual battery can produce more power than you need at that particular time. The batteries are your way of taking advantage of this. At first, when your setup is modest, it is easy to make good use of it. If you aim to continue enjoying autonomy as your situation becomes more challenging (lower production or higher consumption), you will need a more complex and ambitious solar self-consumption kit.

The balance between the self-consumption virtual battery and the transmission grid

Self-consumption is growing fast, and more and more people are interested in installing solar panels with batteries in their home. This situation is driving demand for batteries and the search for new technological solutions that can satisfy the demand and adapt to all types of users.

This is why Endesa is offering the Solar Plus tariff with Virtual Battery, a tariff that is designed to let you take full advantage of your surplus energy, optimise your energy consumption and make the most of the potential of your solar photovoltaic installation without having to expand your initial installation or worry about maintenance. It also lets you decide freely whether solar batteries are really suitable for your home.

In short, virtual batteries are being used in the energy market as a practical and sustainable alternative to save, boost and guarantee the consumption of the energy obtained from your home’s solar panels. For this reason, as the technology advances, your participation in the grid will gradually diminish, but today it remains a vital element in the search for the equilibrium that every solar self-consumption setup with batteries still needs.