RenewSolar is a long standing business with much international trading under its belt with over 30 years of experience, this has included in engineering and aerospace as well a project management, Over the years We have won international awards and have been seen on TV and Magazines. Our Solar business is fairly young and born from the needs of many.
While it may seem that we have a high caliber company, we are down to earth, roots business with morals and ethics. We have always managed to keep our over heads down, we combine our skills and services, which are usually a large cost for other businesses into cost savings which we can pass to our clients.
We have no share holders and we are also not for profit.
On the flip side of this is of course our suppliers which are global ethical companies who hold the same values as we do which we forged back in 2018. This means that we all have smaller margins and put our name to our products. Anything else is capitalism and profiting, and we think life should not be that way.
Fogstar is a fairly new UK business based in the midlands where they started in 2016, they have advertised and paid to get their name out their and have become known as one of the go to companies for batteries.
In 2018, the Fogstar team met with the UK Government to discuss the ‘EU battery directive’ and explore ways in which Fogstar could become a legally compliant supplier of authentic batteries to the UK and EU markets. It soon became apparent that significant investment would be required to take Fogstar forward.
Business picked up just 4 years ago in 2021, when they teams up with EVE to offer prismatic cells.
Unlike Fogstar who have to cover the costs of “significant investment” and other business overheads as they venture into the world of consumer supply and branding, RenewSolar is much different and has a cost effective business model, so we can always undercut their prices.
RenewSolar has lead pricing in the UK for the past 5 years that most companies cannot match, its not cheap corner cutting to get down to a lower price, but the same and higher quality products on offer.
RenewSolar were the first to slash the cost of solar storage batteries by 70%.
“We found that because the UK market was uncertain and there was limited offerings, battery prices were fixed high and were getting higher where companies charged what they liked and made crazy profits from their victims. We were seeing battery quotes, that were more than the price of our batteries and a complete solar system installed. it was crazy and there are still many companies over charging out their” Says Rory Witham CTC at RenewSolar.
Why do you use the word victim?
Because the charges effect peoples lives long term, they are paying ten or more years. And for most of them they will never make the money back, let alone see a profit.
Why is RenewSolar largely an unknown?
We are a little more exclusive, and we don’t promote the business, it has to do it itself; So its a bit slower. We sell to trade, so you may have paid for our products indirectly and promote them, if they passed the savings on. But really when you think about it, who wants to brag that they paid less?
Do you test your batteries and have a real quality battery?
Yes, our battery (and other hardware) is always tested and spot checked. The companies we work with can be trusted and earn that trust with us. Where I think RenewSolar differs is that we are engineers, and did a lot of Quality Assurances. So we can and do pull apart hardware and make an assessment and we do real world hands on testing. We reject almost half of the companies that contact us to sell hardware.
How are you able to offer a big battery for £844 less than Fogstar?
Its fairly simple, fogstar have to make profits and costs on each items they sell, for example they make £20 per cell they sell. So 16 cells is £320 in profits. they cannot bundle something together for less or it just would look off.
They outsource and brand which also costs money, so each step adds more and more to the costs.
We on the other hand are a little more raw. We don’t tend to brand, we don’t outsource,
I think that it is fairly normal in the UK these days for companies to sell for 50% profits.
How much profit do you make?
Well that would be telling, but lets just say we are not for profit and you basically pay an admin fee.
Do you stock batteries?
We have a good reason why we tend to not. We used to stock batteries, or should I say try. The problems was that every time we ordered any stock, it would be sold before it arrived. This went on for a long time so now we have direct delivery. We do keep some in stock, but with some of our suppliers, we have an SLA so delivery is in 3-5 days, some are longer.
How do your budget batteries compare?
We have a few types of batteries, and the budget ones are a little old fashioned; that is possibly the best way to explain them. For most a battery is a battery, but technology changes quickly so last seasons greatest may be this seasons old hat, so this causes prices to drop. While new tech prices seem to be lower, that pushes down the older stock and thus the prices come down.
There are some differences, but they are not so big that they make that much of a difference to the end user. Well apart from in their pockets.
The more costly batteries have the latest tech, but not the latest, While that is a contradiction, its not as stability and bug free is more important. We also have cells, but we aim to find the best compromises with the cost to size and type. They are usually ANC, BYD, EVE, CATL and the such like, All well known and trusted brands.
it doesn’t really matter too much between the batteries that you buy our budget or normal, they are going to be the best value you can get for that price and more in most cases. You will get the rated capacity from either of them.
What are the best batteries to buy?
There is no clear answer to give on that as it is 100% different advice from one install to another. The problem is that there is a lot of false information about batteries and all the different tech, there are pros and cons to them as well. lets say a home with a 30kwh battery inside, may be fine with LFP, but a farm may want 30kwh+ of AGM.
But isnt AGM and lead acid 50% capacity compared to LFP?
No. Most people cycle LFP to 20% and drop the the top too by 5-10% When the battery drops below 10oC you lose around 5% and cannot charge from big arrays. So the difference between the two is around 10% in capacity in the real world. and you can charge LA type batteries at -20oC.
All batteries require maintenance and management, but they differ. I would pick LFP and address the issues to make it work for me.
15kwh Battery from RenewSolar can be found here
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