Eco-Business - SENEC Australia

World-leading SENEC launches new-generation hybrid solar battery

The SENEC.Home V3 Hybrid delivers benefits that haven’t been seen before

A new hybrid solar battery has been launched in Australia by SENEC that offers to provide households with up to 90 per cent solar power self-sufficiency and doubles the warranty of other batteries on the market.

That means homeowners with photovoltaic (PV) solar panels may only need to draw 10 per cent of their current usage from the grid, potentially saving them thousands of dollars a year.

SENEC, which is the largest vertically integrated energy company in the solar battery market worldwide, is 100 per cent owned by German-based EnBW, one of biggest gentailers (generation retailers) in the world.

The SENEC.Home V3 Hybrid delivers a range of benefits that haven’t been seen in the solar industry before including a 20 year warranty, a combined PV inverter and battery inverter, PV over-voltage protection safety as standard, three-tier remote monitoring (every five minutes), unlimited solar recharging cycles and floor mounting rather than wall mounting for ease of installation.

While there are 2.2 million or 20 per cent of homes with rooftop solar panels in Australia, only three per cent of these had batteries connected at the same time. In three years, the number of homes with solar is expected to be three million or 30 per cent of Australian homes.

One of the key reasons why home owners haven’t been installing batteries that can be charged during the day when the sun is shining and allowing saved power to be used at night, is the warranty on batteries until now has been half that of the solar panels.

Jaron Schächter, Managing Director of SENEC GmbH, said people only had to do their maths and work out that in 10 years, they may have to buy another battery, which would be a major impost on capital expenditure and affect the payback period.

“By doubling the warranty and integrating a raft of safety and other features into the SENEC.Home V3 Hybrid unit, home owners will have a huge incentive to buy a battery when they purchase their solar panels.

“This new hybrid battery can also be retrofitted to existing solar-powered homes,” he added.

Solo PV inverter not required
A key design feature of the SENEC.Home V3 Hybrid battery is that an additional PV inverter isn’t required. Part of the storage system is a hybrid inverter, which converts both the current flowing from the PV panels into the storage system and the current discharged from it.

This not only gives the battery 97.4 per cent efficiency, but saves the customer having to purchase and install a separate PV inverter.

“This is another major advantage with our hybrid unit,” said Schächter.

“Its space-saving design makes installation simple and quick. With a footprint of just 0.29 square metres, it is the most compact power storage system on the market. With its removable side panels, the SENEC.Home V3 Hybrid is easily accessible to the installer and specialist tools aren’t necessary.

“This simplified installation and the design aggregation are expected to deliver instant savings of around $4000 per installation.”

The new SENEC battery is 100 per cent designed, engineered and manufactured in Germany, and exemplifies the most well-made battery in the world.

Extra safety features as standard
The safety features that come standard with the hybrid battery are unmatched anywhere in the world. They include:

* An AC/DC customer integrated Residual Current Monitoring Unit (RCMU) that detects AC and DC residual currents. It filters and detects AC and DC false currents to protect components from hazardous currents.

* Two DC-over-voltage protection units (one per MPP-SPD Type II) on the PV side, which saves the unit when lightning strikes the PV panels.

The SENEC.Home V3 Hybrid is also one of the most intelligent storage systems available in Australia. It has available a three-tier remote monitoring (customer, SENEC Australia and its installers, and SENEC Germany) that can be delivered via the SENEC App, which monitors the PV production and house consumption every five minutes.

Another unique feature is when an AC grid is offline or there is a power failure or blackout. The SENEC two-phase emergency power supply is still able to charge the battery with the PV panels, which is unlike any other renewable energy battery. It means the system is a real emergency power supply, which is important for people who need to use electrical and electronic medical appliances.

In addition, the whole system is a lot more powerful: powerful in terms of output, charging rates and discharging rates. The backup power is also a lot more powerful.

Like a traditional solar battery, the SENEC hybrid battery uses the energy generated during the day to charge the battery and any battery power can be used when the sun disappears. Of course, any excess power generated is pumped back into the grid for rebates. This system allows households to reduce power bills by up to 90 per cent.

SENEC has won multiple awards for its products and over the past 10 years and reports that approximately 30,000 SENEC batteries have been installed around the world.

Jaron Schächtersaid that all SENEC solutions aim to empower homeowners to supply themselves completely with self-generated solar power.

“An essential component of this is the intelligent energy management system of the SENEC.Home V3 Hybrid. It not only takes into account the individual consumption patterns, but can also charge the storage system based on weather forecasts.

“This is based on very accurate forecast data, not only taking into account the site-specific weather forecast, but also plant-specific properties. So the system already knows how much power the solar panels will produce at what time, and controls the charging behaviour accordingly.”

SENEC has a host of authorised installers listed on its website at https://www.senec.com.au/

About SENEC:
SENEC is one of the world’s most popular brands for innovative energy and storage solutions. The company has been repeatedly honoured by EuPD Research as a Top PV Brand Power Storage. With its sophisticated memory-based energy solutions, SENEC gives people the freedom to generate, use and share their sustainable energy. Since March 2018, SENEC has been a wholly owned subsidiary of EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, one of the largest energy supply companies in Germany and Europe. EnBW is resolutely focused on the transition towards a renewable energy future – with the tradition of the company always focusing on the customer. SENEC Australia was established in 2017 and is based in Perth. www.senec.com