From pv magazine Germany.
Germany storage system provider Sonnen has unveiled the new version of its PV battery and is offering purchasers the chance to share in the money paid out by electricity grid operators who use their household systems to balance the network.
“Customers with a Sonnenbatterie 10 and a capacity starting at 11 kWh will receive a profit share of €119 per year, guaranteed for 10 years,” the company said.
The Wildpoldsried-based business, which is owned by fossil fuel giant Shell, this year pre-qualified its virtual power plant – made by aggregating its customers’ residential systems – to be able to offer grid balancing services in Germany. Sonnen wants to share some of the resulting revenue with battery owners.
Modular
The company said its new Sonnenbatterie 10, with a capacity of 4.6 kW, will be its new standard product in Europe. The manufacturer said the device was developed to meet increased power consumption standards driven by wider adoption of electric cars and heat pumps.
The lithium iron phosphate battery is said to be modular and Sonnen says it has a storage capacity of 5.5-27.5 kWh for residential storage. For commercial applications, the product can reportedly offer 247.5 kWh of storage capacity. The new model is priced at the level of its predecessors, a Sonnen spokesman told pv magazine.
That price level varies depending upon the requirements of each household, with manufacturer and customer estimating how much net, grid-supplied energy is required per year – if any – and calculating a monthly payment accordingly.
Membership fees payable by Sonnen’s ‘sun community’ will be scrapped, the company said, and existing customers can stay with their current contract or switch to the new ‘flat package’.
The company said it is also exploring other potential sources of grid revenue for its VPP-aggregated customers.
