Solar battery cost: Are they actually worth it?

Picture this: The grid goes down during a summer storm, but your lights stay on, your fridge keeps humming, and your WiFi never skips a beat. That's the promise of solar batteries—but at nearly $11,000, they're not exactly an impulse buy.

Solar batteries typically cost $10,877 after the federal tax credit—which expires for batteries installed after December 31, 2025—for the 13.5 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of storage a typical home needs to keep essential devices running during outages (also the size of a Tesla Powerwall 3). Whether they're worth it depends entirely on your situation.

Live somewhere with frequent blackouts? Don’t get paid much (or at all) from your utility for sending excess solar power back to the grid? Have access to great state incentives? Then batteries could save you thousands over the next decade. But if you're only considering them because you have solar panels, you may want to reconsider. Adding batteries can double your solar costs, and frankly, they're not a smart investment for every homeowner.

We'll explain when solar batteries make financial sense, when they don't, and how to determine which camp you're in.

Solar battery costs vary significantly across brands. Different companies offer different battery sizes, so the easiest way to compare costs is to look at the price per kilowatt-hour ($/kWh). Kilowatt-hours measure the batteries' capacity, or how much energy they can store at once. 

On EnergySage, Pytes USA Energy offers some of the most affordable batteries at about $651/kWh. You'll typically pay the most for Enphase batteries, which cost about $1,510/kWh.

Cost of top 10 battery brands

*The average price per kWh of the 10 most quoted batteries on EnergySage in the first half of 2025 (excluding Panasonic, which is closing its solar and storage business).

**The median usable capacity of the 10 most quoted batteries on EnergySage in the first half of 2025.

***The federal tax credit is expiring for solar and battery systems installed after December 31, 2025.

Battery prices vary from state to state. Based on EnergySage quotes, you'll pay the most for a battery installation by capacity in Mississippi and the least in Hawaii. Installers may be less familiar with batteries in certain states and charge more for labor. Or, they may tend to carry more expensive battery brands in your state. 

The optimal battery size also varies by state based on weather, policies, and electricity usage, which can drive up the price. Take a look at the average battery cost in your state:

Battery cost by state

*The average price per kWh on EnergySage in the first half of 2025.

**The median usable capacity on EnergySage in the first half of 2025.

***The federal tax credit is expiring for solar and battery systems installed after December 31, 2025.

The most significant cost factor of a battery installation is the equipment itself. What battery are you installing, and how many do you need? What chemistry does the battery use to store energy, and does it come with an inverter? 

Equipment costs typically account for 50-60% of the price of an energy storage system. Labor and project planning make up most of the remaining costs, so choosing the right installer is key.

Your battery's quality

The first thing to consider when selecting a battery is its quality. Energy storage products must meet rigorous safety testing requirements, but there are still variations in the overall quality of batteries, which primarily come down to chemistry.

Most home batteries store electricity using some form of lithium-ion chemistry. The two most common types of lithium-ion batteries are nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) and lithium-iron phosphate (LFP). NMC batteries tend to be more power-dense, while LFP batteries are more efficient, tend to last longer, and are slightly safer.

How much battery storage you need

If you just want to back up a few critical loads, your solar battery cost will be lower. But if you're looking to back up your whole home or go off-grid, expect to pay a lot for battery storage—we're talking about $25,000 to $40,000, on average.  

Compared to solar panel systems, batteries are less customizable in terms of size. It's usually pretty easy to add or subtract a single solar panel to get the ideal system size, but it's more challenging to fine-tune the size of the battery. Fortunately, this is improving, and some companies do offer modular options for more flexible configurations. 

Your battery's inverter

Batteries store direct current (DC) electricity, but your appliances use alternating current (AC) electricity. You need an inverter to convert the DC electricity stored in your battery to usable AC electricity. Some batteries come with a hybrid inverter that also works with solar or a storage-specific inverter. If yours doesn't, you'll need to purchase one separately. The inverter could add a couple of thousand dollars to your system cost. 

If you already have solar or not

Energy storage installations require significant electrical work. If you install storage at the same time as your solar panel system, you save money by getting the electrical work completed simultaneously. If you retrofit a battery to an existing solar panel system, you'll pay extra for labor, wiring, and in some cases, equipment.

Your access to incentives

Incentives can be the difference between batteries being a smart investment and an expensive luxury. The federal investment tax credit (ITC) currently knocks 30% off your battery costs—but only if you install by December 31, 2025. After that, the credit drops to 0%. For a typical $15,500 battery system, that's the difference between saving $4,650 this year versus paying full price.

Your state and utility can make an even bigger difference in your final costs. California homeowners hit the jackpot with the Self-Generation Incentive Program, which stacks up to $1,000 per kilowatt on top of the federal credit—potentially cutting your total costs by 50% or more. Connecticut residents can score up to $16,000 through their Energy Storage Solutions program, while utilities like Eversource and National Grid offer ConnectedSolutions payments that can cover your entire battery cost within five years. But if you live somewhere without state incentives, you could be looking at thousands more out of pocket. 

If you need to upgrade or add a new electrical panel

As we said, big storage projects cost a lot of money. Most home battery systems today aren't large enough to cover all your electricity usage. This means you need to put specific circuits onto a critical load panel. A critical load panel functions like a secondary electrical panel. On the panel, you include the essential circuits that you want to remain energized in the event of an outage. 

While the critical load panel itself isn't costly, the electrical work required to install one can add up. Some battery companies today offer load management devices that make critical load panels unnecessary. If you have or choose to install a smart electrical panel, you won't need a separate critical load panel for your battery.

The installer you choose

There's no one-size-fits-all storage solution. It's important to get multiple quotes and compare prices, the same way you would for other big purchases like a car or a new HVAC system.

If you use EnergySage's online quote comparison platform, solar and storage installers will compete for your business, helping drive down the price. Homeowners who use EnergySage typically pay 20% less than the market average. We also vet all the installers on our platform, so you can feel confident that you're getting a quality solar-plus-storage system.