Bodecker Partners har intervjuat Sebastian Strachwitz, VP Global Sales Development på Sonnen GmbH för att ta tempen på solenergimarknaden och dess utveckling i Tyskland.
I Tyskland kopplar man ihop hushåll med solceller och batterier till en gemensam ”community” – ett sonnen community.
Intervjun följer på engelska:
Can you briefly describe your concept for solar panels and battery storage?
The sonnenBatterie is not just a battery, it's a fully integrated smart energy storage system. It includes a software operated energy manager that automatically controls energy production and energy consumption.
The benefit for a residential user is that the sonnenBatterie automatically maximizes the amount of self-consumption. The sonnenBatterie can, for example, activate electric devices e.g. a washing machine via wireless plugs. That helps our customers to use more solar power instead of buying expensive power from the grid. The sonnenBatterie detects the household need of energy and its availability. This is possible because it has a weather forecast and a self-learning algorithm that tracks the consumption pattern of the household. Hence, the intelligent system enables residential users to produce the largest part of their energy needs by themselves.
Commercial users can use the “sonnenBatterie Pro” for peak shaving. The sonnenBatterie stores energy when the demand is low and releases the power when the demand is high. That helps enterprises to avoid demand peaks and save a lot of money because they often have power-based tariffs.
The sonnenBatterie is also a grid-friendly system because it stores solar energy at peak times (e.g. at noon) which stabilizes the grid. Due to its smart functions and its various interfaces it can be part of a virtual power plant and therefore can be used for grid operations. All this helps the overall economy because less power is wasted and decreases the need for new power lines.
What is the Sonnen community?
The sonnenCommunity is the first community of producers, consumers and storage operators who can supply each other with self-generated electricity. Our sonnenCommunity members are independent from the established electricity providers.
Basic principle: Surplus power that can’t be consumed or stored is shared online within the sonnenCommunity and thereby made available to members who currently need power.In addition to the favourable purchase price of a battery storage device, members with a sonnenBatterie also have additional advantages: they can direct-market their surplus electricity with an additional profit to the feed-in-tariff` and pay a price significantly below the average of traditional suppliers for electricity they don’t produce themselves.
Why did you choose this concept? What were the needs you wanted to cover?
Our goal is a world in which everyone is able to cover their energy needs through a decentralised and clean energy source. Everyone can connect with each other to share energy where and when it's needed. This will emancipate our world from the dependence on fossil fuels and anonymous energy corporations.
Can your solution mean that customers no longer need to be connected to the grid?
Today, we can offer a back-up system that will provide customers with power from their sonnenBatterie in the event of a power failure. A complete decoupling from the power grid is not available in Europe. The solution would not be economically for the customer and power failures in the EU markets are statistically not relevant. Emotionally, this can be for individual and specific cases.
Are you alone with your solution in Germany today or has it spread?
Sonnen is the global market leader. There are national and international competitors in the market. Some competitors and the large electricity companies in Germany, are trying to bring similar concepts into the market.
What will we see next from you? Any other interesting products or services?
Sonnen offers its customers in Germany, in addition to the hardware, a lot of services and the possibility to make their sonnenBatterie available for network services and thus maximize the economic value of their investment.
Furthermore, sonnen developed a new sonnenCommunity package which is currently offered in Germany and other countries – the sonnenFlat. With the sonnenFlat community members can use their sonnenBatterie more economically and face 0€ electricity costs..
This service supplements the purchase of a sonnenBatterie with free electricity up to a certain limit, as can be found within telecommunication and mobile phone flat fees. Behind the surface the sonnenBatteries are used for the balancing energy market. That gives sonnen additional revenues that are used for financing the free electricity. So the sonnenBatterie has two functions: It optimizes the self-consumption of a household and it helps stabilizing the grid.
Anything else you want to add?
Clean and affordable energy for everyone is the biggest challenge of our time!
If we succeed to free our energy production from carbon-based emissions within the next 10 years we will not only protect our environment but also our economic and political freedom. Digital technology empowers us to interconnect thousands of people, who are already producing clean energy, to share their excess energy – directly on a non-profit basis – with others in their community. Our intelligent sonnenBatterie can optimise the energy supply and demand to such a degree that an integration of 100% renewable energy within a community is possible – 24/7.
Sonnen will be offering a new product as of June 2017 to the Swedish market – the sonnenBatterie Hybrid. It is a DC coupled system. The sonnenBatterie Hybrid inverter replaces the need of an additional PV Inverter and therefore reduces the customers cost. The System is available throughout our partner network in Sweden.
