Application-specific hybrid storage solution: RCT Power unveiled residential, commercial, and industrial application hybrid storage system based on DC-coupled architecture. (Photo credit: TaiyangNews) 
Technology

RCT Power’s Wide Array Of Energy Storage & Power Conversion Products At Intersolar Europe 2024

Rajarshi Sengupta

RCT Power GmbH, a Germany-based manufacturer of power conversion and storage products, showcased its latest single-phase energy storage and hybrid inverter series at the Intersolar Europe 2024. The company offers hybrid storage solutions for home and commercial applications.

Speaking to TaiyangNews, the company highlighted a DC-coupled hybrid outdoor inverter under the ‘POWER STORAGE DC 6.0 SP’ series for residential and commercial applications. It also featured the latest industrial cabinet energy storage system under the ‘POWER CESS 200 DC’ series.

Residential & commercial storage solution

The company displayed the 1-phase DC-coupled ‘POWER STORAGE DC 6.0 SP’ series hybrid inverter for residential and commercial scenarios. The model, featuring 3 MPPT channels each of 14 A input current capacity, boasts AC output power of up to 6000 W in on-grid mode.

RCT added that the model has a wide MPPT voltage range of 90 V to 580 V with a starting voltage of 120 V. It can be connected with 2 batteries of up to 23 kWh capacity and a maximum 25 A charge and discharge current enabling  high solar self-consumption. Its combination with the RCT power switch box ensures backup power supply from the RCT power storage system during an event of a power outage. The model comes with 10 years of warranty, added the company. Both the on-grid and backup mode of the inverter offers maximum power conversion efficiency of 97.1%. This model will be commercially available by the end of the 2024 and targeted for Spain, Italy, and Greece markets.

Industrial storage solution

For industrial scale applications, RCT Power featured the DC-coupled ‘POWER CESS 200 DC’ series hybrid energy storage system. The 233 kWh energy storage capacity hybrid inverter has multiple sub-sections with respective operational features – converter, battery, and inverter.

In this hybrid energy storage system, the PV module and battery bank DC inputs are directly connected with the DC/DC converter input port, followed by the conversion of the converter’s output DC voltage to AC voltage by an integrated inverter circuit.

The ‘POWER CESS 200 DC’ model’s converter section, featuring 2 MPPTs with a maximum DC current carrying capacity of 80 A each and operating voltage range of 200 V to 950 V, has a power capacity of up to 100 kW. Subsequently, this DC output power is fed into the 100 kW rated DC/AC inverter section with a rated input voltage range of 650 V to 950 V and a DC-rated current of 140 A.

The inverter’s output can fed the load up to 145 A 3-phase AC current, added the company. For excess PV energy storage and backup power service at the time of power outage, RCT has combined a 233 kWh LFP battery bank with a rated DC voltage of 832 V. RCT power emphasized that its liquid-cooled smart battery bank with an integrated battery management system (BMS) can charge/discharge at a constant rate of 0.5P.

During grid outage, the storage system’s automatic switching to backup mode in less than 30 milliseconds, facilitates up to 100 kW AC output power. It pointed out that the connected 233 kWh LFP battery bank has more than 6,000 cycles of charge/discharge lifetime of full capacity storage and subsequently 80% end-of-life (EOL) power retention capacity.

This whole operation of the energy storage system is controlled by an integrated smart energy management system (EMS). Industrial consumers can rely on this commercially available inverter’s built-in EMS to immediately control multiple grid-side scenarios such as backup power, optimizing self-consumption, peak shaving, and rate arbitration.