During the day, you often generate more power with your solar panels than you use at that time. You feed that power back to the grid. From 2027, you will usually receive a lower tariff for the power you supply back to the grid than the tariff you pay when you later need power yourself. In the evening, when the household uses more energy, you will buy that power again at that higher rate. This way, during the day, you deliver back at a lower fee and pay more for your own energy later.
You notice this especially when you generate more daily than you consume directly, without your total power consumption being extremely high. Think of a house with 10 to 14 solar panels, cooking on electricity in the evening, running appliances and perhaps charging an electric car a few days a week. Or a hybrid heat pump that mainly assists in the morning and evening.
A 10 kWh home battery matches that use exactly. You store the surplus during the day and use that power yourself later, when your consumption increases. In this way, you bring generation and consumption closer together.
This way, you increase your own power consumption, reduce the difference between feed-in and buy-in and get more out of your solar panels.
From 1 January 2027 you can no longer fully offset the electricity you generate against your own consumption. You will still receive compensation for electricity you feed back, but it will usually be lower than the rate you pay later when you buy electricity from the grid.
If you have an average number of solar panels, you often generate more during the day than you use directly. You feed that surplus back. As long as you were allowed to balance your consumption, it made little difference. From 2027 onwards, however, you will notice the difference between feed-in and buy-out.
A 10 kWh home battery helps to store that daily surplus and use it later in the day itself. Think of the evening hours, when the household demands more power. That way, you feed back less and need to buy less power at a higher rate.
Wondering if a 10 kWh home battery is right for your situation? We would be happy to take a look with you.
A 10 kWh home battery is especially suitable when you have daily power surplus, but do not need extremely high storage capacity. In the situations below, 10 kWh fits well with your home and consumption.
A 10 kWh home battery offers a smart mid-size for homes with an average number of solar panels and a clear daily surplus. With this capacity, you can store much of your power generated during the day and use it yourself later, for example in the evening or at night.
This type of battery is especially suitable when you structurally generate more power than you consume directly without your total power consumption being extremely high. Think of electric cooking, multiple occupants in the house, a hybrid heat pump or an electric car that is charged several days a week.
With 10 kWh, you noticeably increase your own power consumption and get more out of your solar panels without investing in storage capacity you don't fully utilise.
Want more information? Then check out the frequently asked questions about a 10 kWh home battery at the bottom of this page.
Go to frequently asked questions
Installing a home battery starts with determining what storage capacity you need. How to choose the best home battery for your needs? Our experienced installers will be happy to advise you. Shift to Solar thoroughly analyses your energy consumption and power production and chooses a battery for maximum efficiency.
Then we provide expert installation, taking into account things like location, temperature and accessibility. So you can be sure of a perfectly working home battery.
Want to use more of your own solar power without going straight for maximum storage? With a 10 kWh home battery, you store the daily surplus from your solar panels and use that power yourself later.
This capacity fits well with homes with about 10 to 14 solar panels, electric cooking, multiple occupants or an electric car with limited charging. You increase your own power use and limit how much you feed back to the grid.
Wondering what 10 kWh will yield in your situation? Request a no-obligation quote. We will contact you personally within 24 hours to discuss your home and consumption.
Request a quoteIn many cases, a 10 kWh battery will fit an installation of around 10 to 16 solar panels, depending on the capacity per panel and your power consumption.
Calculation example:
An installation of 14 400 Wp panels (5,600 Wp) generates about 4,800 to 5,600 kWh per year on average in the Netherlands. On sunny days, this regularly creates a surplus of several kilowatt hours. Without a battery, you feed that back into the grid.
If you have fewer than about 8 solar panels, then 10 kWh is relatively large in many situations. The battery will then not be fully charged on a regular basis.
Important to know: the right ratio is determined not only by the number of panels, but especially by your daily surplus as well as your evening consumption.
An average household without a heat pump consumes about 2,500 to 3,500 kWh per year. That's an average of 7 to 10 kWh per day.
A 10 kWh battery is a particularly good fit for households:
With a hybrid heat pump or an electric car that is not fully charged daily, 10 kWh may also be appropriate.
With an all-electric heat pump or structurally high power consumption, 10 kWh is often on the small side.
It depends on how much power you use in the evening and night.
If you use an average of 5 to 8 kWh in the evening, 10 kWh could theoretically cover a full evening and night.
Keep in mind that in practice you can usually use a little less than 10 kWh, as there is always a small loss when charging and discharging.
If you use more than 10 kWh per evening, for example by using a heat pump or charging a car, 10 kWh will only cover part of your consumption.
A battery reduces your grid draw, but does not completely replace the grid.
You can.
If you have an all-electric heat pump, if you charge an electric car daily and if you use a lot of electricity in the evening, 10 kWh is often not enough to cover much of your consumption.
In that case, a larger battery often makes more sense.
From 2027, the net-metering scheme will end. This means that for electricity fed back, you usually get a lower compensation than what you pay for electricity you take away.
If you regularly supply power back during the day, you will notice the difference. You receive less for what you send back than you pay later when you need power.
With 10 kWh storage, you can use some of that surplus yourself instead of feeding it back. This increases your own electricity use and reduces the difference between feed-in and buy-in.
Total investment depends on:
Not every home is technically the same. Therefore, a fixed price without an understanding of the situation is not realistic.
We always make a proposal based on your home and consumption.
For a hybrid heat pump, 10 kWh may be a good fit.
With an all-electric heat pump, power consumption is higher, especially in winter. In that case, 10 kWh helps to cover some of the consumption, but usually not all.
In winter, the output of solar panels is lower. The battery is then less often fully charged.
An electric car consumes 15 to 20 kWh per 100 kilometres on average.
A 10 kWh battery can therefore support around 50 to 70 kilometres of driving range, provided the battery is fully charged.
In practice, the stored power is usually split between residential consumption and car charging.
You can place a home battery indoors or outdoors. Where the battery is best placed depends on the space available and the technical situation.
Place inside
Many batteries are placed in a garage, utility room, technical room or basement. These rooms are often dry and close to the meter box. Indoor installation protects the battery from weather and temperature fluctuations.
Placing outside
Many modern home batteries are suitable for outdoor use and have a weatherproof casing. They are often placed against an outside wall or under a canopy. This saves indoor space.
Points of interest:
A home battery is basically silent. The battery itself contains no moving parts.
The noise comes mainly from the inverter or cooling system. That usually stays below 30 to 45 decibels, similar to a quiet fridge.
In a garage or technical room, you usually hardly hear the battery.
Most modern home batteries lose little energy when temporarily unused.
Under normal use, stored power remains available for several days without noticeable loss.
Self-discharge only gradually occurs during prolonged downtime. This is slow, often only a few percent per month.
How fast the battery recharges depends on how much power your solar panels are generating at the time.
For example, if you have 16 solar panels of 400 Wp (6,400 Wp peak power), you can temporarily generate around 4 to 6 kW of power on a sunny day.
Under ideal conditions, an empty 10-kWh battery can then be largely charged in about two to three hours.
In practice, it often takes longer because you also use power in the house during the day.
It depends on your situation.
If you have solar panels and regularly feed power back, a battery can increase your own power consumption. This becomes more financially interesting now that the net-metering scheme is ending.
The return depends on, among other things:
A proper calculation is therefore always tailor-made.
Yes, in many homes a 10 kWh home battery is quite compatible with a single-phase connection.
Many households with 10 to 14 solar panels have a single-phase grid connection. A 10 kWh battery often fits in perfectly with this technically, without the need to immediately increase the grid connection's capacity.
However, it is important to consider the maximum capacity of the battery and inverter. With a 1-phase connection, the maximum load is lower than with 3-phase. That means you cannot run unlimited large consumers on battery power at the same time.
For example, if you use a heat pump, charging station and induction hob at the same time, then the power may be the limiting factor, rather than the 10 kWh storage capacity itself.
For an average household without extremely high simultaneous load, 10 kWh on single-phase is often an appropriate combination in practice.
When in doubt, we always look at the existing connection, peak consumption in the house and technical possibilities.
A 10 kWh battery can clearly increase your own power consumption, but it does not make your home completely independent of the grid.
In spring and summer, when your solar panels generate a lot, much of your evening consumption can come from the battery.
In winter, the output of solar panels is lower. The battery is not fully charged as often then. You remain largely dependent on the grid during that period.
For many households, 10 kWh storage means:
How big that effect is depends on:
A 10 kWh battery increases your own power consumption and reduces your grid draw, but does not completely replace the grid.
The payback period of a 10 kWh home battery depends on the annual savings and the total investment.
The savings arise because you:
A 10 kWh battery can cope well with a daily surplus, provided there is enough feed-in to fill the battery regularly and especially in the spring and summer periods. In winter, the surplus is often more limited, resulting in less full use of the battery.
Factors determining payback period
The payback period varies for each property and depends on, among other things:
As long as full net-metering applies (until 1 January 2027), the financial benefit of a home battery is usually more limited. From 1 January 2027, the net-metering scheme stops completely. You will then only receive feed-in compensation for electricity you supply to the grid. This makes it more financially attractive to store more of your own power and use it yourself instead of feeding it back.
Efficiency losses must also be taken into account: on average, 8 to 15% of energy is lost when storing and discharging power.
Dynamic energy contract
If you have a dynamic contract with hourly rates, then a 10 kWh battery can help exploit price differences.
You can charge the battery at times when the power price is low and discharge it when the price is higher. Because the storage capacity is more limited than in larger systems, the effect is mainly noticeable with daily price differences. The financial benefit depends on the level of those price differences and the efficiency of the system.
In winter, prices tend to be more variable, but solar panel output is lower then. The battery then mainly helps to reduce peaks.
Electric car and payback period
If you have an electric car, you can get extra benefits by charging mainly with your own solar power or during cheap hours.
In doing so, a 10 kWh battery can keep some of your own generation available for charging, but is usually not enough to cover a full charge of an electric car.
The exact payback period varies from one situation to another. Therefore, a calculation is always tailor-made and based on your actual generation, consumption and contract form.
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