Having announced plans to shut down its solar module manufacturing fab in Germany, Meyer Burger Technology has revealed plans to work with solar microinverter manufacturer Solarnative GmbH to introduce Made-in-Germany balcony power plants.
Solarnative's Powerstick microinverters pair with each individual module to maximize the energy yield. These will be integrated with modules from Meyer Burger to cater to a market segment that they claim has so far been dominated by Chinese manufacturers.
The system will also be equipped with Solarnative's IntelliGate Balcony control unit. This, explains the Powerstick maker, makes it possible for the first time to install a flexible number of solar modules for plug-in solar systems, regardless of orientation and inclination. It can automatically and virtually increase the power limit of the PV system when Germany raises the permissible feed-in-power from 600 W now to 800 W in the future.
Meyer Burger says the Made-in-Germany balcony power system will be available for sale at its online store at the end of March 2024.
Europe's only solar cell and module manufacturer had earlier announced plans to stop module production in Germany from April 2024 in the absence of any state incentives. It plans to focus on the lucrative US market instead (see German Solar Manufacturing Industry Bracing For A Change?).
On the other hand, Solarnative opened a Gigafactory in Germany in May 2023 with capacity to roll out around 100,000 microinverters annually.
"Our common goal is to offer consumers a first-class and sustainable solution for decentralized energy generation that meets the highest standards of quality, aesthetics and functionality," said Solarnative CEO Julian Mattheis.
Mattheis presented the company's microinverter and technology advantages for small distributed solar systems at the TaiyangNews Virtual Conference on Distributed Solar & Storage 2023 (see The Power Of Micro-Inverters Enabling New Applications).