Battery System Design

• Navigating to the Solar & Battery designer page
• Battery System Selection
• Battery Discharge Mode
• Battery Settings
• Charge battery from grid and export battery to grid.
• Adding batteries to existing solar power systems

Navigating to the Solar & Battery designer page

From the Design page, click on the sub-menu icon in the Design tab.

 

Battery System Selection

Using the Solar and Battery Design Page

1. Navigate to the Solar & Battery Design page in the application.

2. On the right side of your screen, locate the box labeled Battery System.
   * * Battery Charger/Inverter Section:
   Here, you can select the Battery Charger/Inverter—a device that charges batteries using solar or grid power and converts stored DC energy into usable AC power for appliances. Choose the appropriate model and quantity for your system.
   
   You can also select a hybrid PV / Battery Inverter in the Map Designer > Design System.
   

Battery Section: This section allows you to select the battery model and configure its parameters, including quantity, Depth of Discharge (DoD), Warranty Life, and Warranty Life Cycles.

1. You can also add in to your design Battery All-in-One (AIO), a system which integrates the battery and charger/ inverter into a single package, simplifying installation and providing seamless energy storage and conversion for solar or grid power systems. You can search for all available Battery All-in-One models in the Product Library. To see the items included in each All-in-One, simply check the Items section on the right side of your screen.
   
   When you add an All-in-one to your design by searching for the model in the Charger/Inverter section within the Battery settings, or in the Inverter section of the Map designer, it will automatically populate the correct input for the Charger/Inverter and Battery based on the selected All-in-one model.

Battery Discharge Mode

You can model when the battery will discharge to reflect the programming of the battery inverter.

Self-Consumption

• This is the default, and most common scenario

• The battery will discharge whenever there is a load and not enough solar to run it. Discharge will occur at any time, regardless of peak/off-peak periods, to maximise self-consumption and minimise use of grid energy.

• This will result in the maximum charge-discharge cycling of the battery

Only in Peak

• The battery will discharge during Peak times only, to maximise return on investment for customers on a time of use tariff.

• Peak times are defined by the tariff periods on the Energy page.

All except off-peak

• The battery will discharge during Peak and Shoulder times only.

• Peak and Shoulder times are defined by the tariff periods on the Energy page.

Backup Only

• The battery will be kept fully charged, and only discharge when there is a grid outage.

• Modelling is based on the  'Grid availability' factor in the De-rating section, where you can specify the percentage of time the grid is available

Battery Settings

• Battery Nominal Capacity. This is the battery module nominal capacity x battery quantity. It doesn’t take into account the Depth of Discharge that you set.

• Quantity - the number of battery units connected in total. This value is pre-set to match the battery inverter’s maximum voltage, but can be reduced.

• Depth of Discharge - This is the % of battery capacity that will be used. This defaults to the maximum DoD defined in the battery data sheet, but can be adjusted according to how you intend to program the inverter.

• Warranty Lifetime – you can specify the number of years that the battery system will be covered under warranty from the manufacturer. This value must be based on the warranty information provided in the data specification sheet from the supplier/manufacturer.

• Warranty Cycle life - Warrantied cycle life can be provided for batteries where the warranty is provided for a particular cycle life limit eg. 4000 cycles

• Peak Shaving Threshold. Use this only if the battery inverter will be programmed for Peak Shaving / Reduction to reduce peak demand tariff charges. This is the peak load (consumption) power level at which battery discharge will begin. That is, the battery will not discharge until that power level is reached.

• Prioritise Charge Over Loads - prioritises using solar energy to charge the battery over supplying the load, up until the State of Charge level specified. If left at 0/unset, loads are always prioritised before any remainder is directed to battery charging.

To view the effects of these control set points on the system modelling:

1. go to the Reports > Design Review

2. scroll down to the Average Daily Performance chart

3. select the ‘Week’ view, choose a month and click Generate Chart

4. click on State of charge in the legend

Grid Configuration

The Grid Configuration will inform the type of Single Line Diagram used, as well as the template for the hand-over manual, and whether or not backup information is included in the reports.

Grid Configuration	Description	Effect
PV	The default if the system does not have a battery
Hybrid	Solar and battery storage, with no backup, so the inverter will shut down if there is a grid outage.	Adds a battery to House diagram in reports
Back-up (Ext)	PV with battery storage that uses an external contactor (aka back-up box) to provide backup power during grid outages.	Add ATS/Backup box to SLD Add backup hours information to Reports
Back-up (Int)	PV with grid-connected battery storage that switches instantaneously so that no noticeable power outage is experienced. No external contactor used, the loads connect directly to a load terminal on the inverter.	Add backup hours information to Reports
Off-grid	PV with battery storage that is not connected to the grid at all	Uses Off-grid SLD Adds generator options on Energy page removes 600V resi PV limit (if applicable)

 

Charge battery from grid and export battery to grid.

See Battery Grid Charge & Export

Adding batteries to existing solar power systems

See Upgrades / adding to existing systems