Enphase’s home energy storage solution, the AC Battery, has been quietly added as an eligible system under South Australia’s Home Battery Scheme.
Up until December 31, 2018, only solar storage systems manufactured or assembled in South Australia (or will be) were eligible under the scheme. This limited choices initially to Sonnen, Alpha-ESS and Eguana Technologies.
423 subsidies had reportedly been approved to that point (but that doesn’t mean all 432 will result in a purchase) and 4,052 households had requested quotes.
Soon after the priority period ended, Tesla and LG Chem were added as options. The addition of LG Chem in particular will be of interest as it is a comparatively low cost, good quality system.
Enter Enphase
On checking the list of eligible systems yesterday, I noticed that Enphase had also appeared.
The Enphase AC Battery is a modular system. Based on lithium-iron phosphate chemistry, which is widely regarded as the safest of commonly used lithium-ion chemistries, the AC Battery has a nominal/usable storage capacity of 1.2kWh. However, additional modules can be easily added.
The AC Battery also has very limited power output – 260W per battery, but this “stacks” with each module added. As a comparison, the LG Chem RESU 10 (8.8kWh usable storage) offers 5kW output (steady). You’d need 7 AC Battery units to approach the same useable capacity (8.4kWh) and in that scenario, output would only be 1.82kW maximum.
The Enphase AC Battery is an all-in-one unit that measures just 39cm x 32.5cm x 22cm and weights approximately 25kg. The latest pricing we have noted on SQ’s solar storage comparison table is $2,000 (fully installed). It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume subsequent units will be cheaper if installed at the same time.
If you’d like to learn more about this energy storage option, SQ’s Ronald posted an Enphase AC Battery review back in 2016 you may wish to check out. I don’t think much has changed with the AC Battery since that time, so much of the information would still be relevant.
If you’re keen on installing Enphase’s battery under the SA’s subsidy scheme, you’ll also need to use a qualified system provider to install a system. Of the 43 qualified system providers currently listed, only one is offering Enphase at this point.
