Is a Solar Battery Worth It?

Financially, physical batteries often have a long payback period (10+ years) compared to solar panels (5-7 years). They make sense if: 1) You live in an area with frequent power outages, 2) Your utility has very unfavourable feed-in tariffs (they pay you very little for exports), or 3) You value total independence over pure ROI. If your utility offers a good Virtual Battery program (Net Metering), that is almost always the better financial choice.