TLGEC on TV as Government Prepares to Invest in Renewable Energy

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25th Jul 2017

Video & content courtesy of Kent Online KMTV

We could save up to 40 billion pounds on electricity

We’re always being reminded to watch our electricity usage whether we’re trying to save on bills or keep a look out for the environment. But the new potential investment in battery pack technology by the government could mean that as a country, we could save up to 40 billion pounds on electricity.

TLGEC Managing Director, Simon Dudson explains:

“I think for consumers it’s an exciting time because electricity prices are again on the move. We’ve seen a lot of people take advantage of solar PV. If you’ve got solar panels, when you’re using the electricity at home, you’re using the electricity from the solar panels. If you’re generating more electricity than you’re using, which most people will be during the day, at the minute, that electricity just flows back onto the grid whereas now, you can actually charge your battery up, so then, later on in the evening, when the PV stops working, the battery will take over”

Solar panels are now becoming a regular feature on new build homes as well as more of us having them installed on our roofs but working together with battery packs, the electricity we use off the grid could almost be zero.

“Where batteries come in now is, a battery unit sits along side the solar panel and is attached to the fuse board. It senses when you’re going to export to the grid, and what it does is says, ‘we’ll have that’ and it takes the electricity and starts to store it in the battery. Then when you need that electricity, the battery and the solar panels will provide power to the house. Quite a few of the installs we’ve done so far, when it’s been nice weather outside, we’ve seen people pretty much come off grid for a month at a time”

Now, with more of us choosing to go electric with our cars and top them up using power points like the one at the University of Kent, it means that there’s only so much the national grid can take before it can’t handle any more electricity. Well, that’s where these battery packs come into place and they can help solve this problem. However, are they affordable?

“You’re looking at around between 6 and 8 thousand pounds, shall we say for install including VAT so yes, it is relatively expensive but you know, we are seeing a lot of interest in it and I would expect the price to come down.”

The investment into these battery packs will also help to grow Kent’s renewable business sector.

“We did see batteries as a future, hence why we became a certified installer of Tesla and we did our research on that side of things but personally, I think this will be bigger than solar PV, everyone will benefit from this”

The batteries may not be the cheapest of home upgrades but if the project works as expected, it could spark a major saving in your energy bills.

This follows recent news by the BBC…

Earlier this week the BBC also reported about the Electricity shake-up that could save consumers ‘up to £40bn’ (link opens in a new window).