When your solar panels generate energy, your home only uses the electricity required at that moment, and the surplus of solar energy is injected into the electricity network. However, when you need more electricity than you produce, you have to take so-called 'grey power' from the grid again.
By using a home battery, you can store your surplus of generated renewable energy and use it during periods when the sun is not providing enough energy. This allows for optimized energy consumption, reduces dependence on external factors such as electricity price hikes, and transforms your home into an environmentally friendly living space.
A battery system from GONEO is a complete package. You don't have to buy any additional components (such as a separate battery inverter). This not only reduces the complexity of installation and use but also means GONEO team will respond fast to serve you in case of any problems.
When you purchase a GONEO home battery, you will get free lifetime access to the My Goneo, GONEO online and real-time monitoring platform. You can access the platform via a web browser or the app, which is available for both iOS and Android devices.
The app will allow you to monitor the energy flows in your home. You can track the energy production of your solar panels, monitor your energy consumption, view the amount of energy stored in your battery, and more.
We'd like to explain this in terms of battery cycles. One cycle refers to the complete charging and discharging of a battery. In the GONEO Cloud monitoring platform, you can see graphically how much your battery has been charged or discharged on a given day. You'll notice that achieving a full cycle per day is rare.
Studies have shown that, considering our climate and a battery system that is properly adapted to your situation, approximately 280 cycles per year are required. Therefore, over 20 years, you would need about 5,600 cycles. GONEO assures that the storage capacity of the home batteries will only drop by a maximum of 20% after 10,000 cycles.
If in the future you decide to use your home battery for other applications besides optimizing your consumption (e.g. virtual power plants), the number of cycles you consume per year will increase slightly.
Here's a practical illustration:
When operating at maximum power, a 1,000-watt microwave oven consumes 1 kWh of energy in one hour. Similarly, a 10-watt LED bulb consumes 1 kWh if used continuously for 100 hours. With a fully charged GONEO energy storage system of 11.4 kWh, you can power the microwave oven for approximately 11.4 hours and keep the LED bulb illuminated for approximately 1,140 hours.
The safety of a home battery depends on its chemical composition and design. Different batteries are designed for specific applications, and the chemistry used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries, for example, may differ from that of home batteries.
Different functions are expected from these cells. The EV batteries have to charge, discharge, and be light. The battery of a mobile phone has to have a high specific energy (light) and usually does not have to last long. A home battery must be safe and have a long life.
Safety is of paramount importance for GONEO. That's why they have chosen the highly safe Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4 or LFP) chemistry for their home batteries. This chemical composition ensures the cells are safe and non-flammable even in extreme conditions. This means that you can pierce the battery or cause a short circuit without risking a fire. The GONEO home battery is therefore extremely safe.
The proper disposal and recycling of batteries hold great importance for the environment. Although some lead-acid batteries are recycled to retrieve materials like lead, a significant number end up in landfills, especially in developing nations.
GONEO exclusively uses Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) for its battery cells. LFP batteries have electrodes made from non-toxic materials, which means they pose a lesser environmental threat compared to lead-acid batteries. Furthermore, the materials in LFP batteries, including electrodes, wiring, and casings, can be recycled and reused for new lithium batteries. Some LiFePO4 batteries already incorporate recycled materials.
Since LFP batteries have a long lifespan, the recycling processes are still in the early stages. As more lithium batteries reach the end of their useful life, recycling will become more efficient and cost-effective. Engineers are continuously enhancing the processes to recover materials, leading to improved recycling methods.
The cost-effectiveness of a home battery varies depending on individual circumstances. Several factors play a significant role in determining the
payback period, such as:
- Do you already have solar panels installed?
- What VAT rate applies to your installation? 6% or 21%?
- What are your current electricity costs?
- Are you eligible for subsidies and do you plan to utilize them?
- The complexity of installing a home battery at your location.
- The quality of the home battery itself.
Based on extensive simulations and real-world observations with GONEO home batteries, we typically see payback periods ranging from 7 to 9 years.
However, beyond financial considerations, a home battery offers additional personal benefits:
- Protection against future electricity price increases, which have been rising at an average rate of 6% per year over the past decade.
- Contributing to reducing CO2 emissions and combating global warming, becoming part of the solution.
- GONEO Cloud monitoring platform provides insights into energy consumption, enabling optimization and reduction of energy usage. The cheapest kWh is the one you don't use.
- Being prepared for a future where energy is green, generated locally and shared.
Overall, a home battery provides not only economic advantages but also aligns with environmental goals and empowers individuals to optimize their energy consumption.
GONEO home batteries are maintenance-free. The internet connection allows the system's software to receive regular updates.
No. The GONEO product needs an Internet connection (over wired Ethernet or your home Wi-Fi) to receive software updates and to communicate with the My Goneo for energy tracking. A reliable connection is required to provide new product features over time. While the GONEO system can continue to operate with its most recent settings if the Internet connection is temporarily lost, it is not recommended to install it in a location without Internet access.
During a power outage, the GONEO energy storage system acts as an emergency power supply with its built-in UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) functionality. When a power outage occurs, the home battery seamlessly takes over within 20 milliseconds, providing uninterrupted power to your home without noticeable disruptions.
You have the option to connect essential devices in your home, such as refrigerators, freezers, and computers, to the backup output of the home battery. This ensures that these appliances continue to operate smoothly and mitigates any potential issues. In certain scenarios, it's even possible to power your entire house using the surplus solar energy previously stored in the battery.
LFP stands for Lithium Iron Phosphate, which refers to the chemical composition of the cathode in a battery cell. GONEO only uses LFP cells which are known for their thermal stability, technical excellence, and outstanding safety. Additionally, these cells are cobalt-free, further enhancing their environmental sustainability and safety profile.
Lead batteries are cheaper but have some significant disadvantages compared to lithium batteries. They can only be discharged halfway, requiring a larger battery capacity. In addition, lead batteries are three to four times heavier and take up much more space. In recent years, lithium- ion technology has undergone a gigantic evolution in terms of capacity and price, making the Life Cycle Cost much more favorable than lead-acid batteries.
GONEO only uses Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) cells, which are safer than the lithium batteries used in cars. The chemical composition of LFP cells virtually eliminates the risk of overheating and thermal runaway, making them safe and non-flammable even in extreme conditions. LFP
cells also have a long lifespan. Although they are slightly heavier and less compact, this is usually not a problem in a domestic situation. An additional advantage is that the LFP cells do not contain any cobalt.
No Problem. But when connecting, 3-phase meters are used to ensure that the required power of the battery is compensated on the 3 phases.
Here's an example:
Two consumers each need 500 watts at a certain moment and are connected to phase 1 and phase 2, respectively. The battery system is connected to phase 3, which currently has no energy demand. The GONEO system then measures how much electricity is needed in total over the 3 phases at that moment (in this case 1000 watts). This electricity is made available in phase 3 because the home battery is connected to that phase.
As there is no consumption on phase 3 at that moment, the 1,000 watts on phase 3 is injected into the electricity grid. At the same time, the 500 Watts needed by the users in Phase 1 and Phase 2 are drawn from the grid. The same amount of electricity that the users need is therefore injected in Phase 3 (1,000 Watts) and drawn in Phase 1 (500 Watts) and Phase 2 (500 Watts). In this case, the electricity meter is stopped, so there is no additional electricity cost.