Is a home battery worth the cost? The 2026 pros and cons of PV solar storage in Ireland

Should we include a battery in every new PV-solar system?

Batteries add to the versatility of your PV-solar system, keeping it serving the house after the sun goes down. It is also currently possible to push low-cost EV overnight tariff units (downloaded for as little as 8c) back to the Grid (18c – 25c paid to you for each unit) directly from your battery for credit on your bill. Picture: iStock

This is a question I get regularly from readers, so let’s examine the pros and cons of including a domestic storage battery in a prospective solar system for 2026. 

First of all, let’s just outline in very lay terms what a PV-solar appropriate battery is. These are lithium-ion power storage devices that are used to store direct current (DC) gained from collection from a PV-solar array or, say, a wind turbine. This stored energy is then converted to alternating (AC) current by a device called an inverter, as it’s needed in the home. Domestic batteries can also hold power downloaded from the Grid and redeploy it. Many people use batteries for both duties, setting the hybrid PV-solar inverter manually on its interface or via an app, to dictate what the battery is used for. Storing up free solar gain, a battery extends the useful hours of a PV-solar system right into the night by as much as 10 hours, depending on what you’re doing after dusk. A solar array can work independently of a battery, and a set-up with an inverter, a battery can be used to draw power from the Grid without a solar system being in place.