Depending on who you are, you either love battery storage or you hate it.
The facts are as follows:
Storing solar power in batteries is not really a super efficient way of using solar power – as this process ends up wasting about 30% of the solar power generated!
At the same time, without batteries you cannot use rooftop solar power for applications that have a high reliance on the power generated from the roof. For instance, in the case of off-grid solar sector in which the power for the end user is generated solely from the rooftop solar, the system cannot work without batteries.
So, for some sectors, battery storage for solar power is a must, willy-nilly.
But, with some companies bullish on battery costs coming and down and also perhaps on minimizing inefficiencies associated with the battery storage of solar power, there are some who predict that solar+storage could be a hugely disruptive idea for the solar power sector.
Is it, really?
Here are folks from Solar Mango discussing the disruptive potential of battery storage with solar power. (part of Innovations in Solar series)
Also check out: EAI Consulting for Solar Energy – Solar PV & Solar Thermal