Chinese power electronics and battery upstart attempts to take the hassle out of installation

There are signs everywhere that distributed energy storage (BESS) installations are about to undergo a rapid acceleration. Attractive solar feed-in tariffs are a thing of the past, electricity pricing for consumers is in flux, and batteries are finally coming down in cost.

SunWiz expects that around 70,000 residential batteries will be installed this year – up from 57,000 in 2023. And as noted previously, 2023 was already a record-setting year.

It is notoriously difficult to forecast battery uptake, but there are an increasing number of things pointing in the right direction for homeowners to take the plunge and purchase a BESS. And it may well be that the SunWiz forecast ends up being too conservative.

But there remains one major sticking point: while demand may be growing, for installers BESS can be neither easy to sell nor install.

As easy as PV

One of the reasons that Australian residential solar has grown to be the powerhouse that it is, is the way in which system design and installation has been made easier and faster for installers. It’s true that nothing will ever take the sting out of working on a rooftop in the summer sun, far fewer modules deliver more power than ever before, and system connection and commissioning times have been slashed.

Battery systems, on the other hand, are at a much earlier point along their learning curve. Manufacturers are quick to use the phrase “plug and play” but things seldomly pan out that way.

Encouragingly, new suppliers are taking on the challenge of easing BESS installation. And some are making good progress.

Enter: Sigenergy

With only two years since its founding, Chinese power electronics and BESS supplier Sigenergy is the new kid on the block. Based in Shanghai, the company has grown at breakneck pace – currently boasting 500 employees and customers in more than 34 countries (given the rate of its growth, it’s likely these numbers will quickly be surpassed).

While it’s not entirely accurate to call it a Huawei spin off, Sigenergy does share a good deal of DNA with the communications giant. Its founder Tony Xu headed up Huawei’s Ascend AI Computing team, and Sigenergy is now using an AI chatbot to assist with the installation process.

While some may see a downside in the association with Huawei, there is no doubting that the Shenzhen-based company delivered a high level of technical design and execution in its power electronics and battery energy storage products.

Sigenergy, which is headquartered in Shanghai, seems to have inherited some of those virtues and has assembled what appears to be a highly-motivated team – many ex-Huawei – who have enabled the rapid product development and aggressive market expansion that the company is undergoing. And its inverters, gateways, and batteries are a good illustration of what can be done when ease-of installation is front of mind.

At BayWa r.e. Solar Systems, we were able to showcase Sigenergy’s products a few weeks ago at our WA warehouse and office. Sigenergy’s Australia and NZ Managing Director Will Hall lead the session and he highlighted the versatility of the company’s products.

The SigenStor battery brings together a solar inverter, batteries, the hybrid battery inverter, a DC charger for EVs, and the battery management system in a single device. Available with a capacity of either 5kWh or 8kWh, up to six SigenStor units can be connected in parallel – delivering 48 kWh of energy storage.

Given this capability, Sigenergy has been promoting the products potential in both residential and C&I applications, which the company terms One-for-All.

Facilitating installation

There are definite advantages in a fully integrated battery system that can be stacked to meet a range of energy storage capacity needs. Being able to serve a wide range of customers while doing away with the need to stock different battery systems is a plus. But it is perhaps the way in which Sigenergy has targeted ease of installation that will see it have a most significant market impact.

The SigenStor has been designed for both indoor and outdoor installation, by virtue of its IP66 rated enclosure. It can handle temperatures of up to 55 C, the company reports.

Being a stackable system, large storage capacities can be installed a project site without the use of cranes or concrete foundations. And with the mySigen App, the company claims that commissioning time can be reduced to only 10 minutes.

Drawing on the AI experience of its founder, the mySigen APP includes a GPT-4 AI, which Sigenergy says can answer an ever-increasing number of installation and commissioning queries.

The single-phase SigenStor achieved Clean Energy Council (CEC) listing in June. And it has already been installed at an impressive project.

In Panton Hill, 32km north of Melbourne, SigenStor units with a combined capacity of 336kWh were installed at a luxury home. While the sprawling home is grid connected, the local transformer couldn’t meet the property’s power needs, meaning that it had to rely on a diesel generator.

With the SigenStor batteries, the generator was no longer required, and the batteries can switch between off-and on-grid modes when local power supply is interrupted. Due to the batteries’ ability to be installed in parallel, if one unit goes down the others can operate unaffected.

Market acceleration

It is encouraging to see how a new generation of products are making progress towards unlocking a growing range of energy storage applications. Independent testing results are also demonstrating that impressive round-trip efficiency can also be achieved by well-designed battery and inverter combinations. And the upside to the market growth is enormous.

On June 25, EuPD released “Market Leadership Study Europe…” report, in which it forecast 14 GWh of residential battery installations across Europe in 2024. It noted that there is “a growing integration of storage solutions” for European homes.

The expansion of residential energy storage installations, EuPD said, was “driven by the phase-out of feed-in tariffs and grid limitations as well as a growing importance of integrated energy management and energy market solutions.”

There are clear parallels with Europe and the market development currently underway in Australia. New products that can deliver the same ease of installation and flexibility that is now baked into rooftop solar will play an important role in the ongoing growth of distributed battery solutions. And Sigenergy appears to be a good example of this trend.