Nissan Gets Into Home Solar & Energy Storage Market With All-In-One Solution

UK homeowners who want to go solar will soon have another alternative, thanks to Nissan's latest offering.

Connecting renewable energy to electric cars is of paramount importance if we want electric mobility to be fully sustainable, and although its newest product is geared toward residential electricity production and not specifically electric vehicle charging, combining Nissan's home solar and storage product with an EV could deliver zero-emissions benefits to both home and vehicle.

Earlier this month, we covered the news about a partnership in Japan that could see new Nissan Leaf owners receive a free home solar array, and last week the automaker announced that its latest product, which combines both solar electricity generation and home energy storage, would launch in the UK. According to the company, its all-in-one residential solar solution, dubbed Nissan Energy Solar, combines "world-class residential solar panels" with an "intelligent" energy storage system (xStorageHome), along with a home energy management system to enable owners "to control how and when they want to use their energy in real time."

"The system reduces energy costs and carbon footprint for homeowners significantly, by automating energy flows, purposefully utilizing solar production peaks and storage capacities." - Nissan Energy Solar

Home solar is a great option for getting to a lower carbon footprint, but a grid-tied solar array without any energy storage isn't the be-all and end-all solution, as a grid power outage will affect solar and non-solar homeowners alike. However, adding a home energy storage system that can function as a micro-grid during grid failures can be big step up. A home battery system can also allow homeowners to store some of the electricity generated by their solar array for use during the night, as well as to charge their electric vehicle when the sun goes down.

According to Nissan, the system will be priced starting at £3881 (~US$5427), and although details are sparse, it appears that this is for the basic 6-panel solar array and energy management system alone, but considering that Nissan is making its new electric vehicles with a vehicle-to-home (V2H) feature, the EV could essentially function as the home's battery. The company claims that UK residents could save up to 66% in their energy bills with the Nissan Energy Solar system installed.

via CleanTechnica