SolarEdge Technologies, a solar equipment manufacturer, today announced its energy storage division has begun shipping new battery cells designed for stationary energy storage applications. Manufactured at its Sella 2 gigafactory in South Korea, the company has begun shipments of Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) pouch cells optimized for energy storage applications in the residential, commercial and utility scale segments.
The NMC cells provide up to 8,000 cycles with high energy density and power throughput without compromising operational life, enabling SolarEdge to provide battery solutions that support a broad range of use cases, notably grid-stability applications.
“The global stationary storage market is estimated to grow from approximately 45 GWh in 2022 to 164 GWh by 2030 and SolarEdge is focused on supporting this critical segment,” said Ronen Faier, chief financial officer and general manager of SolarEdge’s energy storage division. “Owning key processes and cell chemistries will allow us to further secure the resilience of our supply chain and provides us with the flexibility to produce cells optimized for various energy storage solutions.”
On May 25, 2022, SolarEdge subsidiary Kokam Limited opened the 2 GWh battery cell manufacturing facility Sella 2, located in the Eumseong Innovation City of Chungcheongbuk-Do, South Korea.
The Korean facility is equipped to manufacture battery cells for SolarEdge’s residential solar-attached batteries as well as battery cells for a variety of industries, including mobility, energy storage solutions (ESS) and UPS applications. The facility can scale its battery cell capacity in the future to support the growing needs for storage solutions offered by the company.
In October 2018, SolarEdge closed the acquisition of a 75% majority stake in Kokam, a provider of lithium-ion cells and battery components, for $88 million, establishing the solar inverter producer’s expansion into the global battery supply market.
Additional growth avenues for SolarEdge include its recent partnership with Sunnova Energy to provide a residential energy-as-a-service system to Sunnova users using the SolarEdge home battery system.
SolarEdge’s 9.7 kWh battery is characterized by its DC-coupled design, which requires just one power conversion when consuming solar-generated electricity. Up to nine batteries (three per inverter) can be stacked to achieve an 87.3 kWh backup system with 30 kW of continuous power.
The battery has a round-trip efficiency of 94.5%, capable of being charged while simultaneously exporting power to the grid for utility bill credits.
The company said this efficiency adds up over time, and over the course of a year, it can lead to 10 full days of saved energy, compared to a typical 10 kW solar array in self-consumption mode (no battery). The battery is reportedly robust enough to provide continuous power, allowing users to consume stored power for large devices like washing machines and HVAC systems for longer periods of time.
SolarEdge’s common stock traded up 4% today to $325 per share on the news of production from the Sella 2 battery line, with a $17.8 billion market capitalization.
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I hope SolarEdge uses some of its expanded battery capacity to target the 1000V commercial battery market. There is an unmet need for 1000V DC-coupled PV + BESS solutions that can be installed on commercial rooftops and include Rapid Shutdown capabilities.
Cool, I loved these cells when they first came out back in 2004~ but they somehow never had anyone of several owners really produce them.
They were used in the Pro EV Imp racing EV that kicked a lot of ICE in the fully modified SCCA class, not an easy one to win.
Lot of data on their website.