Brimstone Energy recently installed a GivEnergy All in One battery storage system into a property that already had both solar panels and a heat pump. Whilst the solar panels are useful for generating lots of electricity during the period April to September, their production is much reduced during a British winter. So their ability to offset the demands of a Heat Pump is limited. Step forward battery storage. Battery storage and Heat pumps are the perfect partners.

With a battery, the customer can charge it up overnight, using low-cost off-peak electricity. This is then discharged during the rest of the day, avoiding the need to buy electricity at peak prices.

One of the features of a heat pump is that it basically needs to run continuously in order to keep the home at a steady temperature. This simply means that it constantly applies gentle heat into a property. This allows the heat pump to run at maximum efficiency.

With a heat pump, you avoid the fluctuations of temperature that you might experience with a Gas-fired Combi Boiler. By running continuously, with radiators gently applying heat into the property, you can run the radiators at a lower temperature. By having the radiators at between 40 to 50 degrees, you can benefit from efficiencies of 350%, perhaps even more.

But the key point we want to draw your attention to is “continuously”. You need to buy electricity at peak prices. This is where a battery comes in. The battery allows you to buy electricity at off-peak prices and run the heat pump when you need it.

Many new tariffs on the market allow consumers to buy electricity at low off-peak prices, but then then set punishingly high peak prices during the 1600-1900 hrs evening peak demand period. So you as the consumer are heavily incentivised to avoid using electricity during this time.

We expect this to become the norm.

So if you are thinking about installing a heat pump, or already have one, then our advice is to also invest in a battery. That way you’ll reduce the running cost of your heating system overall.

With Brimstone Energy, we treat your home as a holistic whole. With our energy appraisal system, which we call the Brimstone Eco – System, you can receive technology agnostic advise, which is specific to you and your home.