US solar installers learn to be nimble in selling batteries

Battery prices are at an all-time low and rates of attachment to solar arrays in the US at an all-time high. A record 45% of US solar installations came with a battery in the second half of 2024, according to EnergySage’s spring 2025 “Solar and Storage Marketplace Report,” with battery prices falling to $999 per kilowatt-hour of storage capacity, down from $1,333 two years earlier.

Bill saving has been the primary driver of interest since EnergySage began tracking batteries in 2020, with 33% of potential customers expressing that as their primary motivation. Another 28% were primarily interested in self-supply, only slightly ahead of the 27% who wanted backup power.

pv magazine USA spoke to solar installers who have learned first-hand that interest in batteries can vary from customer to customer, and that it helps to be nimble when selling battery storage systems, as interest can often depend on geography and state policy, among other factors.

In states with less-than-retail-rate net billing programs, batteries have a high value proposition. In these states, batteries benefit solar customers by storing energy during peak solar production hours, rather than exporting it at a low price to the grid only to have to buy it back later at the retail rate.

In Utah, for example, where solar customers are credited at the far lower “avoided cost” rate, Scott Kane of Creative Energies has found that many of his customers initially contact the company for batteries and their interest in solar only arises as part of the sales conversation. According to EnergySage’s data, 17 of the 20 states with customers’ expressed interest in batteries above the national average had less-than-retail-rate net billing programs, including the top six: Hawaii, Tennessee, Alabama, Indiana, Georgia, and California.

Batteries’ value proposition is even greater in states where time-of-use electricity rates are coupled with “avoided cost” net billing compensation, widening the financial gap between the value of exporting energy to the grid and drawing energy from it. When California scaled down its compensation rates under NEM 3.0 in April 2023, the battery attachment rate soared from 7%, before, to 79% after NEM 3.0. As numerous states respond to utility company pressure to scale back net metering programs for solar customers, interest in batteries will only grow.

By contrast, in the 23 states with battery attachment rates below the national average, pv magazine USA found that all but six had retail-rate net metering programs. With 100% compensation rates for electricity exported, the grid itself acts as a kind of virtual battery for solar customers. There, solar installers might need to appeal to reasons other than bill savings when marketing batteries, including the benefits of backup power.

In Idaho, for example, Rocky Mountain Power gives full retail rate credit for residential and small commercial solar customers with systems up to 25 kW. Dan Bennett of Idaho-based EGT Solar finds that interest in batteries is driven more by concerns about resilience in the face of power outages. He finds “preparedness” and a desire to live free from the grid high among the state’s former-military members and people living in rural areas, where long service waits during power outages increases interest in battery backups.

The different reasons for interest in batteries can require selling different battery configurations. The challenge in selling batteries is that bill savings and battery backup can conflict with each other. Keeping the lights on in a power outage requires a big enough battery and a high state of charge to supply residential electricity needs. By contrast, using a battery for load-shifting in order to save money requires a battery only big enough to supply short-term electricity needs during evenings and nighttime hours, but it also means making use of the battery on a daily basis, often leaving the battery in a state of charge too low to supply a home’s energy needs throughout a power outage.

Knowing a potential customer’s primary interest in batteries can help solar installers offer different products and different value propositions. Especially as state and federal support for clean energy programs reduce the return-on-investment timeline, having the right message for the right audience is more important than ever.

From pv magazine USA.