Update: More than a year since it first unveiled its Nissan xStorage home battery system, the company has announced it is finally coming to the UK under a new brand, Nissan Energy Solar.
Nissan Energy Solar is described as an “all-in-one solution that combines world-class residential solar panels with energy storage system to make the most of UK homes.”
The system includes solar panels to capture the energy and a home battery to help customers store and use it. Nissan promises the system will reduce energy bills and make them less reliable on the grid, helping them to live more sustainably.
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One of the biggest hurdles for solar energy in the UK is the weather. We rarely get enough sunlight outside of summer months, and of course solar energy is typically used to power homes during the day – a problem during the UK’s cold, dark winters when light and heat is most needed.
With Nissan Energy Solar, the company claims homeowners can collect and store the excess energy from their solar panels and use it during the night, even to charge their Nissan Leaf and e-NV200, as well as using it on cloudy days.
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Original story continues below
If you’re in the market for an electric car, the Nissan Leaf easily represents one of your best options. It’s fast, relatively inexpensive, and probably has enough range to eat up your commute and more. However, the Leaf isn’t the only interesting electric, green product Nissan makes in 2017. The Japanese manufacturer also makes the xStorage home battery, Nissan’s answer to Tesla’s Powerwall 2.
What is the Nissan xStorage?
A joint project between Nissan and Eaton, the xStorage is basically a huge battery for your home – and it also solves a huge problem with solar power. Solar energy is both cheap and clean and collects a huge amount of energy in the day – more than we’d need in fact. The only issue? Once night comes and we really need electricity for light and heating, there’s no solar energy to convert to electricity.
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Just like the Tesla Powerwall 2, the Nissan xStorage solves this problem by storing energy when there’s an excess, and then releasing it when the sun is down – effectively levelling things out.
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How does the Nissan xStorage work?
As with the Tesla Powerwall 2, the Nissan xStorage uses lithium-ion batteries to store solar energy in the day to be used at night. The Nissan xStorage also comes in two distinct versions: two “Second Life” models that uses reconditioned batteries from old Nissan Leafs, and currently one system that only use new batteries.
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Interestingly, Nissan says the xStorage also comes with solar inverters already integrated into the home battery. These inverters are bidirectional, which means, in the future, battery would be able to sell energy back to the grid, if the opportunity presented itself.
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Nissan xStorage: Price
Nissan is selling three types of panels as part of its Nissan Energy Solar setup – Value, Efficiency and Design – all designed to work with, and without, the Nissan xStorage.
Value, as their name suggests, are the most competitively priced panels in the range. The Efficiency panels have optimised power generation, and the Design range are “sleek integrated panels for the design conscious.”
A basic six-panel Nissan Energy Solar setup will set you back £3,881, inclusive of VAT and fitting, while adding the xStorageHome battery pack brings the price up to £7,635. The batteries alone will retail for £6,446, and the various products will be on sale “soon”.
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