Sofar highlights ‘all-in-one’ shift for Australian market

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With rooftop PV’s contribution to Australia’s energy mix on the rise, Sofar is forecasting increased demand for ‘all-in-one’ solutions that incorporate solar inverter with modular batteries in a single package.

Rooftop solar PV installations are on track to pass a total of 25 GW installed capacity in Australia by the end of 2024 as governments move to cut the reliance on coal generation in the power grid.

Residential battery installations are also on the rise with a record 57,000 systems, with total capacity of 656 MWh, installed in 2023. Solar and storage analyst industry analyst SunWiz is forecasting 70,000 home batteries, representing 788 MWh of capacity, will be installed in 2024.

While the attachment rate of home batteries connected to households with rooftop PV continues to trend upward, Sofar Regional Director Roy Du said the company had identified a growing demand in the Australian market for integrated solutions rather than “split” systems, where the inverter and storage batteries are used separately.

“Before, each of the manufacturers would provide one of the products but nowadays the market is going to a whole-solution market,” he said. “So as a manufacturer, we need to provide a whole solution to our partners, to the end customer.”

Du said that moving forward manufacturers will increasingly provide all-in-one solutions that integrate solar inverter, battery energy storage and energy management system in a single package.

Providing an integrated product is expected to provide residential product customers with a single point of contact under a single brand with a single bill and single warranty set.

Sofar showcased its integrated residential solar and storage system at the All Energy Australia event held in Melbourne last week, displaying single-phase and newly launched three-phase versions of the PowerAll product.

The modular and integrated DC-coupled energy storage system combines up to six BTS 5K battery modules and a hybrid inverter. The modular design allows for up to six units to be connected in parallel, enabling a configuration of up to 36 kW / 180 kWh.

The battery modules come with an integrated battery management system and power control unit that can adjust the output voltage and current of the battery according to the battery’s state of charge.

Sofar said the system’s modular design meets “the diverse energy needs of households, allowing customers to freely choose battery modules and flexibly expand capacity.”

Sofar, which has been part of the Australian market since 2016, said it in addition to single-phase products, it plans to launch new three-phase products that are tailored to the local market.

The company’s product range includes 1-350 kW PV inverters, 3-20 kW energy storage inverters, energy storage batteries, and the Sofar cloud monitoring platform. At the end of 2023, Sofar had shipped a total of 31 GW of inverters globally.

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