February 15, 2023
The marketplace for home battery storage has lastly crossed the road of attraction for giant client battery makers, with choices now accessible from Duracell and Energizer, and extra prone to come.
“A huge part of the storage market is the brand,” says David Dunlap, the vice chairman of product technique at BayWa r.e. Solar Systems.
Apart from the belief that these manufacturers generate for potential adopters of a home battery system, these multibillion-dollar corporations are searching for to supply all the weather of a successful market providing, from the single-source provision of the system, to service and guarantee, to a strong and expandable sensible system monitoring and management resolution.
“The brand brings the history of producing consistent, reliable products that people can count on,” says Vince Jenkins, the director of North American gross sales for Duracell Home Center, in San Jose.
This sort of name belief has taken years to safe, factors out Julian Sweeney, the managing director of 8 Star Energy, in Melbourne, the worldwide licensee for Eveready and Energizer manufacturers in solar and storage functions. “The generational awareness of the brand, and the joy and the trust that people have in the brand, goes back historically and through generations of people whom have been buying Energizer batteries,” he says.
Integrated Consumer Brand Systems
The Energizer Energy Vault ecosystem of solar panels, inverters and batteries will roll within the United States towards the top of the third quarter this yr, says Sweeney. “There are still issues with some certifications, but we’ve had the experience of launching the product in Europe, Australia and New Zealand beforehand,” he notes. While the Energizer model is getting used within the United States, the Eveready model is getting used elsewhere because of regional model recognition power.
The Energy Vault might be supplied in an expandable line starting from 5.1 kWh to twenty.4 kWh, relying on the solar array that might be utilized. 8 Star won’t solely goal new installs, but in addition cater to retrofits of including storage, and inverters — if upgrading is required — to houses and companies that have already got PV put in. The Vault is predicated on LFP battery chemistry at present and has been configured for each AC and DC coupling, relying on the situation and buyer sort.
While the Vault isn’t but that includes a two-way charging functionality for purchasers with EVs, the system is Virtual Power Plant-ready, because of the big marketplace for VPPs that has emerged in Australia, says Sweeney. The system can also be able to different microgrid configurations, he provides.
With an analogous technique, fellow client battery big Duracell is providing an answer that integrates solar microinverters, battery storage, and a Level 2 EV charger, together with a sensible cellular app for monitoring and system monetary planning.
“We’re taking the full suite of components into an ecosystem and delivering it to the market in 2023 at venues like Intersolar,” says Jenkins.
Duracell is taking pre-orders for its AC-coupled LFP battery system in a number of sizes, starting from 5 kW/14 kWh to 10 kW/56 kWh. Unlike some proprietary built-in system suppliers, the Duracell resolution is suitable with current PV installations. Three microinverters vary from 350 W peak with the D350-M1, to 1350 W peak with the D1500-M4. The full system has a 10-year guarantee and the power electronics include a 15-year guarantee.
“Duracell sees tremendous opportunity to create effective green power management solutions for the home. Ultimately allowing the consumer to manage, store, and control all aspects of power within their home,” says Bobby Mendez, the president of Duracell North America, in a Home Center endorsement.
Monitoring and Control
Enact Systems’ software program resolution has been licensed by Duracell for its home battery system. Pleasanton, Calif.-based Enact presents monitoring and alerts, with setting controls for energy and monetary outcomes. The software program, which additionally presents installer evaluation and advertising and marketing features, is obtainable to all U.S. solar installers and to these in some two dozen nations.
The monitoring system can even assist clarify the professionals and cons of home storage to potential prospects. “The complexity level of energy storage is probably anywhere from five to six times that of PV alone,” laments Jenkins. “There are no silver bullet solutions. The biggest part of an installer’s job is going to be the education of the customer, and that’s really where the software platforms come in, like Energy Toolbase.”
“Over the next three years, groups like NREL and private companies are definitely going to be rolling out some new (cost/benefit analysis) calculations because they do it very well right now for PV only, but not for PV with EVs, or for PV with storage,” Jenkins reckons. “Under NEM 3, California is going to be this amazing testbed for behind-the-meter storage including all these scenarios,” he provides.
Education
Installer schooling might be mandatory earlier than the installer can educate the potential buyer, so Duracell is growing an interactive schooling and certification platform quickly. “We will do more webinar-based education as we’re growing our dealer population,” Jenkins says.
Distributors of the Duracell Home Center, like BayWa r.e., additionally will profit from the area of interest schooling program being developed for installers.
“The storage market is in a fickle spot right now, where installers who got burned at selling storage before they were ready, now may want to ramp up again, and they haven’t really picked their new preferred solution or partner,” says Dunlap. “At RE+ there were something like 40 or 50 storage solutions. We’re looking specifically at high-voltage storage solutions that are kind of plug and play for a grid-tied system. That’s about 80% of the market.”
Future Capabilities
More sensible home options are on the way in which. Two-way EV charging performance might be doable with the Home Center with a software program replace, Jenkins says. The Home Center meets the latest ISO 15118 customary for bi-directional sensible charging and administration, offering eligibility to take part in utility packages.
VPPs may even be an possibility for Home Center prospects. VPPs are rising as a option to leverage particular person home storage programs as a bunch, interacting with wholesale electrical energy markets and utilities. While some built-in storage suppliers, like Tesla, have launched a proprietary mannequin of VPP with hundreds of shoppers in locations like Southern California, the market remains to be catching as much as the idea.
Linking an built-in solar + storage buyer to a supplier-agnostic VPP might not be that troublesome within the close to future.
“We’ve already met the requirements for VPP certification with programs like Rocky Mountain Power’s Wattsmart Battery program. All our data sheets for energy storage will list these. We wanted to make sure we would meet the leading requirements to facilitate VPP formation,” says Jenkins.
Bottom Line for Storage Integration
“Anyone who can fully integrate a seamless platform for a communication and energy management hub is going to have something compelling. I think that’s what folks are chasing. That’s certainly what the Duracell model is all about, trying to create that integration,” suggests Dunlap.
Charles W. Thurston is a contributor to Solar Builder.
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Tags: Duracell, Energizer
