Zonnefabriek battery storage systems

New products are introduced to the solar marketplace all the time, and at Zonnefabriek we like to keep abreast of what’s new and whether it’s worthwhile adding these products to our range. Our favorite inverter manufacturer SMA has been releasing some interesting instruments, so we thought it might be worthwhile presenting some of them to you.

Hybrid inverters

It’s interesting to see the rise of the hybrid inverter, which is a two-in-one kind of machine: not only a solar inverter for the solar panels, but also a battery inverter at the same time. What that means is that you can easily combine your solar system with battery storage and you don’t need a separate inverter for both systems. The three-phase version of the SMA hybrid inverter has been around for a while now, but they also added a single phase instrument for smaller systems.

An SMA inverter is a hybrid when it has the words ‘Smart Energy’ added behind the name. The three-phase version is called the ‘Sunny Tripower Smart Energy’ (or STPSE for short) and it comes in 4 different power classes: 5, 6, 8 and 10 kiloWatt (kW). The single-phase version is called the ‘Sunny Boy Smart Energy’ (SBSE) and comes in the smaller sizes 3.6, 4 and 5 kW. Both of these hybrid inverters can be used as solar-only inverters if you don’t want to invest in battery storage straight away: you can always start with a regular solar system and add batteries in a few years’ time. The advantage is that you won’t have to add an extra inverter for the batteries if you invest in a hybrid from the get-go.

The Sunny Boy Smart Energy is SMA's newest 

Back-Up

Having a hybrid inverter can also mean you have some back-up power in your home in the rare cases that the public grid fails. Both the STPSE and the SBSE are equipped with a special Back-Up functionality that can kick in in the case of power outages. On the STPSE it consists of a special Back-Up connection to the inverter which is basically always energized. It’s an easy solution for those devices in the home that you always want to be certain of that they remain powered up, but it does require some extra work in the distribution panel. The SBSE has a more basic solution, with the option to add a single outlet that will remain powered up in the event of grid failures but that you need to activate manually. The SBSE Back-Up works even if there are no batteries attached, whereas the STPSE does require batteries for its Back-Up to function.

SMA batteries

SMA battery- and hybrid inverters have always been compatible with batteries from different manufacturers, like those from Chinese behemoth BYD. However, SMA have now also released their own battery which they call the ‘SMA Home Storage’ batteries. Each battery module has a usable capacity of 3.28 kiloWatt-hours (kWh) and you can combine multiple batteries onto one inverter. The advantage of getting SMA batteries with your SMA system is that you only have to deal with one company if anything goes wrong: there can be no passing of the buck. What’s more, the SMA batteries come with an impressive performance warranty of 12 years from installation, or 8000 cycles. That means that the batteries can be dis- and recharged far more than most other batteries can, allowing for a wide variety of uses. For instance using the batteries in combination with dynamic energy contracts, charging when electricity prices are low and discharging when they are high, becomes a possibility.

An SMA battery storage system always consists of three elements: the inverter, the batteries, and the energy manager, which is called the Sunny Home Manager. An SMA Sunny Home Manager can control much more than just a battery: you can build a complete smart home by adding various controllable devices into the system, such as EV chargers, heat pumps, or smart plugs and relays. Find out more on our website or contact us for more information.

An SMA Sunny Tripower Smart Energy hybrid inverter with three SMA Home Storage batteries, totaling about 10 kWh of battery storage