Sweet Answer from Solar Mango: (updated Jul 2015)
While solar power plants around the world use either lead acid batteries or Li-ion (Lithium ion) batteries, the former is the more commonly used batteries.
So, a question that naturally arises is: Is there anything different between the lead acid batteries we use elsewhere and those that are used for solar PV power plants?
Well, it happens that the most suitable type of battery for solar power is the deep-cycle lead acid battery. Such a battery is designed to be discharged up to 80% during its use, and then recharged repeatedly.
Why are deep cycle batteries most suited for solar?
As you can easily visualize, solar power systems will need these deep cycle batteries as there will be many occasions when you will need to draw power from battery for extended duration. Think of a rainy day when you have little sunshine the whole day – your battery will be discharged to maximum limit possible during this day. And such rainy or cloudy days could be present many days in a year. All these require batteries that can withstand deep discharges many times over.
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