Aesthetics and beauty seem to be becoming an important part of solar PV products, along with of course efficiency and product quality. At least this is what TaiyangNews’ sojourn to the Intersolar Europe 2024 on day 2 noticed. New products launched included SMA Solar Technology’s Sunny Central Flex which won The smarter E Award 2024.
SMA Solar Technology’s booth in B5 hall attracted a lot of crowd, especially after the company won The smarter E Award 2024 for its latest product Sunny Central FLEX. The Industry Lead for PV and DC Coupling Solutions of SMA, Robert van Treeck shared with TaiyangNews that the company had started conceptualizing this product back in 2018. He said SMA started thinking back then about the future of the PV market to ensure solar energy generated doesn’t go to waste with curtailment, and a product that provides grid support. Treeck said SMA is the 1st company ahead of its competitors to integrate moss-wet silicon carbide, instead of IGBT silicon modules, for its power electronics. The Sunny Central FLEX is a fully integrated 40-foot platform that can install over 7 MW with 1 crane movement and 1 foundation, using 2 inverters with a transformer in the middle. This new SMA product can achieve a DC-DC conversion efficiency of up to 99.5%. SMA plans to start shipping this platform in 2025, with an initial focus on the US.
Chinese solar inverter manufacturer Solplanet’s Country Manager for Spain and Portugal Thomas Weile introduced the company’s energy management system, driven by AI. Presenting a household energy system simulation with a 3-phase hybrid inverter, a high voltage battery and an EV charger, Weile stressed that this AI-powered system will optimize a home’s energy management powered by solar panels. It will take into consideration dynamic electricity prices. Solplanet is also exhibiting a new range of 3-phase hybrid 15 kW to 30 kW inverters in 3 different colors.
Speaking of color, Intersolar Europe 2024 is not just high on high-efficiency products, but also on aesthetics. Not only solar PV module manufacturers, but even suppliers are also presenting beautiful and colorful products when it comes to inverters. They consider Europe to be an attractive market for such products.
The green products arm of publicly listed Chinese appliances giant Midea Group, Hiconics is displaying its compact inverters in several colors, including golden and red. The company says these inverters are highly customized for stylish appearance, and lightweight design, especially targeting the European market. Models cover 3K to 6K range with a maximum input voltage of 550V. Hiconics says these inverters come with a 20 A string current and are compatible with 182/210 PV modules.
Energy storage solutions (ESS) provider Bluetti is also venturing into the solar tiles business with different colors. While the team at the booth called the exhibited solar tiles in golden and black, a prototype to gauge market interest, the actual product details are under wraps for now.
Walking through the scores of booths at the show, Chinese BIPV manufacturer Gain Solar’s booth caught our attention with an interesting range of products, including solar tiles that actually looked like a slab of grey marble. Wooden, brick and stone colors are among other options in this range that uses traditional building materials to turn them into energy-generating products. Energy with beauty is how Millie Tan of Gain Solar described the products. The booth also displays transparent solar panels, suitable for carports or greenhouses. Solar floor tiles, in different colors and with changing lighting, are another attraction. One can walk on these as well.
Looking after business development in the Dutch market, Huawei’s Hugo van Straten presented the company’s C&I battery LUNA 2000-200 kWh. It has been designed for optimal time of use and to solve grid congestion. Equipped with a smart air-cooling system, each pack of 16 cells in the battery has an optimizer. It comes with a smart string ESS that it claims is the industry’s 1st smart string architecture with built-in energy optimizer. It also has a safety airbag design of top explosion venting. Straten also talked about 150 KTL inverter that can significantly help improve rooftop utilization by up to 50% and increase energy yield by 5% to 30%, and Huawei FusionCharge Solution with a total capacity of 720 kW output.
German developer and producer of LED-based solar simulators WAVELABS came to the show with its mini-module tester SINUS-430 ADVANCED showcased for the 1st time ever. This new product can characterize solar cells and mini-modules made with thin-film and perovskite technology. It claims this product closes the gap between small-scale cell characterization and module-size research and production. The SINUS-430 ADVANCED covers all sample sizes. Additionally, WAVELABS has other products SINUS-3000 PRO and SINUS-3000 ADVANCED solutions also on display.
