Solar and Battery Storage for a Three-Storey Home in Kingston

Electricity use continues after sunset in a three-storey home: the refrigerator keeps running, someone watches television, and bedroom lights and air conditioners come on. Jamaica’s energy ministry describes an annual average solar resource of about 5kWh per square metre per day. Collecting electricity during daylight and storing some for later helps solar fit that evening routine. The energy available at night depends on how much has been stored and what the household uses. Jamaica’s solar resource.

We installed a Sunchees solar and battery system at this seven-bedroom, three-bathroom home in Kingston. The household uses refrigeration, lighting, television and air conditioning. A 15kW split-phase inverter is paired with rooftop panels and two 40kWh lithium batteries to provide energy storage for daily life and backup use.

Why keep a battery reserve for outages in Jamaica?

JPS’s restoration process moves from major electricity infrastructure and essential services through community networks to smaller lines. While a home is waiting for supply to return, a battery can power connected appliances. Alongside normal evening use, retaining some stored electricity provides a reserve for an unexpected interruption. JPS’s restoration process.

Hurricane-season backup was part of this home’s requirements. Its two batteries provide 80kWh of nominal storage. Leaving some of that charge in reserve allows the household to balance ordinary evening use with electricity kept available for an outage.

Installing panels on a three-storey home

The installation date was May 27, 2026, and the site work took three days. Sixteen panels were mounted on the roof. Water tanks and solar water-heating equipment also occupy the rooftop, while two storage units stand side by side indoors.

The 9.6kWp array is paired with a substantial amount of storage. The batteries provide space to hold energy, while daily generation and daytime household use determine how much can be replaced. Several nights of heavy cooling call for more charging than occasional backup use, so it is useful to consider consecutive days as well as a single evening.

Could four bedrooms stay cool through an eight-hour outage?

With both 40kWh batteries fully charged, the planning allowance for reserve and conversion losses leaves about 58kWh for appliances. Suppose refrigeration, lights, television and other retained loads, including the system’s own consumption, average 600W in total:

• Four bedroom air conditioners: around 5kW total demand, for approximately 11–12 hours.
• Seven bedroom air conditioners: around 8.3kW total demand, for approximately 7 hours.

Under the four-unit assumption, there is enough energy for an eight-hour night with some headroom. These estimates start with a fully charged battery, retain a 20% reserve and allow for 90% conversion efficiency, with no solar or other charging during the outage. Each bedroom air conditioner is assumed to average 1.1kW. Cooling demand can fall once a room reaches its set temperature, or rise in hotter weather and with larger units. The battery, inverter and connected circuits must also support the running and starting demand. These are comparisons for planning appliance use, rather than measured running times at this property.

Recharging matters just as much. The 9.6kWp array’s rough average-day generation estimate is 36–38kWh, while four air conditioners and the other assumed loads running for eight hours use about 40kWh. A full battery can cover that one night, but repeating it every day while also supplying daytime appliances calls for less night-time use, more solar generation or another charging source.

What might the monthly electricity saving look like?

Consider four air conditioners used for eight hours each day, with around half those hours during daylight. At 1.1kW per unit, that is 35.2kWh for cooling. Add 9.8kWh for refrigeration, lighting, television, kitchen appliances and other use, giving 45kWh daily, or 1,350kWh over 30 days. This is a defined household example to compare with your routine, rather than a fixed consumption level for every seven-bedroom house.

For budgeting, we use J$55–65 per kWh, with an allowance for tax and the fixed customer charge added separately. This is a planning assumption informed by the official 2024 residential average of J$56.95 per kWh and JPS’s changing bill components; it is not a complete current tariff quotation. See the official energy statistics and JPS billing information.

Before solar, that example gives approximately J$74,000–88,000 a month in electricity-use charges. Estimated generation from the 9.6kWp array is 1,080–1,152kWh monthly. If around 864–1,037kWh ultimately replaces grid purchases, the reduction would be approximately J$48,000–67,000 a month, leaving around J$17,000–32,000, plus the fixed customer charge.

The generation estimate uses roughly five equivalent full-sun hours per day, a 20–25% allowance for generation losses, and a further assumption that 80–90% of that output ultimately replaces electricity purchased for the home. The remaining allowance covers storage losses and unused generation. These are broad planning estimates, not a site-specific weather or hourly energy simulation; cloudy months and shading can produce lower results.

The 80kWh battery bank offers room to store energy, but the bill reduction still follows the solar electricity actually generated and used at home. Equipment, finance and maintenance costs are separate. During prolonged cloudy weather, both production and savings will be lower than in this example.

Planning solar and storage for your home

Our 15kW split-phase solar system range provides a starting point for understanding the equipment. For a similar three-storey home, send us a recent electricity bill, air-conditioner nameplate details, operating hours and roof photographs. Tell us which rooms you want powered during an outage, so we can discuss panel numbers and storage around that use.

Frequently asked questions

Does a larger battery bank always require more solar panels?

Panel capacity should match the energy you want to replace. Keeping some charge for occasional backup can require less daily replenishment than using a large part of the battery every night. Compare daily generation with daily consumption, then check whether the available roof can accommodate the panels required.

Does each storey need its own solar system?

A single system can be planned to supply multiple floors. Separate meters, which circuits are included in backup, and whether each floor operates independently are more useful starting points than the number of storeys alone.

Would a solar water heater use the battery during an outage?

The solar thermal collector uses sunlight to heat water. Any electric backup heater or pump connected to the backup circuits adds an electrical load. If you want electric water heating during an outage, include that heater’s power rating in the appliance plan.

Editorial sources

• Jamaica energy ministry: solar resource
• JPS: power restoration process
• JPS: fuel rates and billing information
• JPS: understanding your bill
• Jamaica Energy Statistics 2024: residential rate averages, PDF page 18