Choosing a home battery: kWh, 800 watts, P1 meter and models

Why a home battery now?

From 1 January 2027 net metering (salderen) ends in the Netherlands. Power your solar panels feed into the grid can then no longer be set off against power you use later. You get a payment for it that is lower than the price you pay yourself. A home battery stores daytime power so you use it yourself in the evening.

Milieu Centraal is cautious: in its view a home battery is so expensive that you will most likely not earn it back at the moment, and there is no national subsidy. What changes after 2027 and when a battery does pay something is in the guide on the home battery after net metering ends.

How many kWh do you need?

A small home battery stores about 2 kWh, a large one about 20 kWh; an average one is around 6 kWh, Milieu Centraal writes. Its advice: do not choose too large. The battery should cover your evening and night use. Anything above that often goes unused.

Mind the difference between the number in the name and what you can use. A battery never discharges completely, and some power is lost when charging and discharging. The Consumentenbond therefore works with the price per kWh that is really available, not the capacity on the box. The usable capacity is usually in the manual or the data sheet.

Power: 800 watts or more

A plug-in battery in an ordinary socket is limited to 800 watts, Dutch broadcaster NOS reports. If you want more power, put the battery on its own circuit in the fuse box. Some models can do much more: Anker gives 3,500 watts for the Max AC, Zendure 3 kW for the 3000mix. You only get that power on a circuit of its own. How to connect such a battery is in the guide on connecting a plug-in battery.

If your home needs more than the battery delivers, for example when the oven is on, the rest simply comes from the grid.

P1 meter: knowing when you have power to spare

A P1 meter plugs into the P1 port of your smart meter. The battery then sees whether your home is feeding power in or drawing it, and charges or discharges at the right moment.

Check whether the meter is included. The Hoymiles HB-4020-AC and the TSUN 5 kWh come with one according to their names; the Zendure 3000mix and the Zendure SolarFlow 4000 Mix AC+ are supplied without a P1 meter. You then buy it separately.

AC or hybrid

An AC battery charges through the socket: it takes the power your solar panels deliver through the ordinary inverter. You place it next to your existing installation. A hybrid battery also has its own inputs for solar panels (MPPTs). The Anker Solarbank 4 Pro has four according to its name, for up to 5,000 watts of panels. That is mainly useful if you are fitting new panels or replacing your old inverter.

Indevolt sells the same series as ECO and as Hybrid, for example the PowerFlex 2000 ECO 4 kWh and the PowerFlex 2000 Hybride 4 kWh; Anker has the Solarbank Max Hybride next to the Max AC.

Large, expandable and what the name says

For heavy evening use, a heat pump or an electric car there are batteries of 7 to 14 kWh and more. Many series can be expanded with extra packs. Read the name carefully: some products are only an expansion. The Zendure 2400AC+ can only be used with the AB3000L according to its name, and Anker sells the BP5000 and BP7000 as expansion batteries. Without the base unit they do nothing.

Makers also give the number of charge cycles: Anker 10,000 for the Solarbank 4 Pro and the Max AC. That says something about lifespan, but it is the maker's claim, not a test.

Overview

What else to look at

• Warranty and cycles: compare the warranty in years and the number of cycles the maker gives.
• Outdoors or indoors: CONOW gives IP65 (protection against dust and rain). The Consumentenbond found that many batteries worked almost as well at 5 °C as at 23 °C, but advises against a shed or garage for some models. Check the manual for the temperatures the maker allows.
• Backup: not every battery supplies power during an outage. TSUN mentions a backup function; how it works is in the manual.
• App and energy contract: if you want to charge in cheap hours on a dynamic contract, check whether the maker's app supports it.

All models with their prices are under home batteries.