Abstract—Smart energy storage systems are becoming an important essential for solar Photovoltaic (PV) applications because used to convert variable solar generation into controllable, reliable, and higher-value electricity. This review highlights smart PV-storage systems from the comprehensive viewpoints such as system architecture, storage technology, power electronics, battery and energy management, protection, forecasting, microgrid operation, techno-economic optimization, and sustainability. Firstly, this paper reveals that storage performance depends not only on battery capacity but also on accurate PV-resource assessment, load profiling, converter design, state-of-charge and state-of-health estimation, dispatch strategy, communication reliability, safety design, and lifecycle management. Lithium-ion batteries, lead-acid batteries, flow batteries, supercapacitors, and hybrid storage are used for comparison at off-grid, grid-connected, mini-grid, building, and electric-mobility applications. Secondly, the survey discloses that smart control can improve self-consumption, reduce peak demand, support frequency and voltage regulation, increase resilience, and reduce curtailment. However, poor sizing, weak data, high capital cost, thermal risk, degradation, limited maintenance capacity, and unclear end-of-life management remain major barriers. The article concludes that PV-storage projects should include forecasting, digital monitoring, safe battery management, economic planning, clear techno-economic analysis, and locally validated design data for the future.

Keywords—battery degradation, battery management system, energy management system, grid integration, microgrids, Photovoltaic (PV)-battery storage, renewable energy resilience, smart energy storage systems, smart inverters, solar photovoltaic systems

Cite: Maria A. Kihesya, Isaka J. Mwakitalima, "Smart Energy Storage Systems for Solar PV Applications: A Review," International Journal of Smart Grid and Clean Energy, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 62-78, 2026. doi: 10.12720/sgce.15.2.62-78

Copyright © 2026 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).