Blue Ion the best option available for battery storage.
One of the most common questions we get about solar panels is a pretty simple one: What happens at night?
For too long now, the answer has been that your home will switch from solar to drawing electricity from the grid. No more. We now have a better answer.
Battery storage technology has been improving by leaps and bounds. You’ve probably heard a lot about Tesla’s breakthroughs in storage technologies. But there is another company that has been making huge advances, Blue Planet Energy. OGW Energy Resources is now an authorized Blue Planet dealer.
We love Blue Planet for a number of reasons. Let’s take a look at a few of them.
Blue Planet’s storage system is called Blue Ion 2.0. Blue Ion 2.0 is more than just a battery, it is an entire energy storage system that employs new sophisticated batteries working alongside control systems that allow for 100 percent depth of discharge with no impact on cycle life, low ownership cost and an amazing 15-year warranty.
A New Kind of Battery
Blue Planet developed a new type of battery called Blue Ion Ferrous Phosphate (LiFePO4 ). Unlike Lithium Ion (LiOn) batteries, the LiFePO4 is fire-safe and non-toxic. LiOn batteries are very popular in small devices like cell phones, but they can sometimes overheat, leading to fire or explosions. Blue Planet has been working to perfect this technology, which meant finding a technology that lead to a more stable chemical bond. They found it in the ferrous phosphate molecule. Without getting into the chemistry behind it, ferrous phosphate forms a strong bond with oxygen atoms, which leads to unprecedented stability and safety. The trade off is that Blue Ion LiFePO4 batteries are larger than LiOn batteries, but that’s not a problem when designing for residential or commercial uses.
Performance
Blue Planet also delivers better long-term performance They employ a proprietary battery management unit (BMU), that increases battery life and safety while also monitoring performance data. Some competing systems allow for only 50 percent battery discharge, but Blue Planet’s system allows for 100 percent depth discharge, which means that you get all of the storage that you paid for. Blue Planet is so confident in this system that they offer a 15 year performance warranty.
Scalability
Blue Ion 2.0 is easily scalable to match your home size. Their smallest system, the Power On, offers 8 kWh of storage and works well with a 1,200 square foot home or two people. (The average U.S. household uses about 30.4 kWh per day).
Next in size is the Power Up system, which stores 16 kWh and works well for a home of about 2,000 square feet or a small family.
Finally Blue Ion 2.0 offers the Power All system which is scalable up to 450 kWh – ideal for large energy- efficient homes on up to light commercial buildings.
Monitoring
Finally, we love the monitoring capabilities that Blue Ion 2.0 offers. From a web portal or an Apple app, you can keep up to date about how your Blue Ion 2.0 system is performing. You can monitor critical stats like your battery status and how much energy is being stored.
One other thing – the coolness factor. Everybody on the planet (and maybe off the planet) knows who Elon Musk is. But Blue Planet has its own very cool founder – Henk Rogers. Henk is the creator of the Tetris video game series. He has turned his passion – and his wealth – towards solar energy. His foundation, the Blue Planet Foundation, is dedicated to replacing carbon fuels with solar, with an immediate goal of ending Hawaii’s use of imported oil (Hawaii is Blue Planet’s home).
If you have an existing photovoltaic system or are thinking of installing one, we now have a better answer to the question, “What happens at night?” Give us a call and let us introduce you to the Blue Ion 2.0 storage system.