AskSolar

What size battery should I get for an average Irish home?

Independent analysis

Based on AskSolar's analysis of 1,673 real Irish data points on this topic.

Last updated .

Most Irish households land on somewhere between 5 kWh and 10 kWh, with 10 kWh being the most common "sweet spot" answer for a typical home that's occupied in the evenings. The logic is that a 10 kWh battery is usually big enough to carry you from late afternoon, when generation tails off, through to the cheap EV/night rate that kicks in around 2am — so you rarely buy expensive peak-rate units.

Smaller 5 kWh batteries suit lower-consumption homes or anyone mainly load-shifting a modest evening load. Going bigger (15–20 kWh) only makes sense if you have high usage — an EV charging at home, a heat pump, electric cooking, or a busy household — and a large enough array to refill it. An oversized battery in a small home just sits partly empty and never earns back the extra cost.

One technical catch worth flagging: a battery's stated capacity is not its discharge rate. A "5 kWh" battery might only push out 2–2.5 kW at a time, which won't cover a kettle plus an oven plus a tumble dryer all at once. If high simultaneous loads matter to you, ask the installer about the continuous discharge rate, not just the kWh figure. The smart move is to size against your own usage data rather than a neighbour's setup.

Ready to see what this means for your home?

Get a fair-price estimate or compare quotes from vetted local installers.

Related questions