Pika Energy VS Tesla Powerwall 2

Today I’ll be comparing the Pika Energy Harbor Smart Battery system to the Tesla Powerwall 2. Last time we compared a battery storage system to the Tesla Powerwall 2 we received a ton of feedback, and we’ve taken that into account in this video. So lets dive in…

To start, I want talk in-depth about who Pika Energy is, how their system works, what they offer, and of course their warranty. I’ll compare it to Tesla’s Powerwall 2 at the end with a breakdown.

Pika Energy is a Maine-based manufacturer of clean energy products, that includes solar inverters and power optimizers. Most recently, the company has partnered with Panasonic to combine their power electronics with Panasonic lithium-ion battery technology. The result is the Harbor Smart Battery, a solar-ready battery that pairs Panasonics lithium-ion batteries with a Pika Energy Island inverter for on-grid and off-grid home energy storage.

The Harbor Smart Battery system pairs with a solar system to store energy at home, manage your energy costs, and provide backup power during a grid outage. It can be installed as part of a new solar system, or added to an existing solar system that uses a Pika Island inverter.

Their Harbor battery offers 10.6 to 15.9 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy storage for your home. The inverter that is used in the system can manage up to 60 kWh of storage, so you can install multiple batteries to increase your home storage capacity.

The Harbor Smart Battery is a smart choice to pair with a solar system, especially if you want backup power for your home, your utility has reduced or offers no net metering, time-of-use rates, or has significant demand charges. Having a solar storage solution installed like the Harbor battery allows you to maintain a sustained clean power supply during the day and night.

As with other energy storage products, the Harbor battery is sized for day-to-day use at your home, and is usually installed alongside a solar system. When your solar panels produce more electricity than you can use in your home, the excess is stored in the battery packs instead of being sent back into the electrical grid. Later, when your panels aren’t producing enough electricity, you can use the electricity stored in your Pike Energy home battery instead of having to buy it from your utility supplier.

Normally, this process happen over the course of a day: when the sun is high in the sky and your solar panels are producing more electricity than you can use, the surplus energy is stored in your Harbor Smart Battery. As the sun goes down and your solar panel production decreases, you draw on the electricity that you stored during the sunniest part of the day.

Pike Energy’s Harbor Smart Battery is much different that other home batteries. Pike Energy’s flagship product is the Pika Island inverter, which is designed to seamlessly integrate solar modules and energy storage. The product was envisioned to create a more flexible inverter solution, and is ideal for both on-site consumption of stored solar energy and grid services like demand response.

Pika’s battery solution was designed with two major markets in mind. The first is locations with time-of-use (TOU) electricity rates, such as California, where electricity cost more during the hours of the day when demand is highest. The second is “zero export” markets, such as Hawaii, where solar system owners can’t export their excess solar energy to the grid. The battery has built-in operating modes that are designed to optimize energy use for each of these scenarios.