Canadian Solar Launching Home Battery: EP Cube

Canadian Solar’s subsidiary is set to launch a home battery system next week. Details are scant at this stage, but here’s what we know.

Canadian Solar has announced its majority-owned subsidiary, CSI Solar Co., Ltd, will formally launch the EP Cube residential battery system at the RE+ trade show in Anaheim, California on September 21.

Carrying Canadian Solar branding, the EP Cube is a slimline, all-in-one system with hybrid inverter scalable from 9.9 kWh to 19.9-kWh capacity per unit. The company says the EP Cube will be compatible with both new and existing systems using AC or DC coupling.

Up to six EP Cube battery stacks can be connected in parallel to provide up to 119.9 kWh of energy storage and 45.6 kW power output. The EP Cube has been designed for indoor or outdoor installation, and incorporates the Smart Gateway, described as:

“… an intelligent technology platform that enables automatic and seamless energy transfers for on- or off-grid use without user disruption.”

The EP Cube app will provide owners real-time monitoring of energy production and consumption, and installers will use the app to set up and troubleshoot systems. The EP Cube will also feature over-the-air (OTA) software update services.

And that’s about all the real detail available at the moment. It looks like Canadian Solar have a dedicated website for the EP Cube battery system ready to rock, but it is currently password protected. The announcement was focused on the US market and at this point it’s not clear when (or if) the EP Cube will be available in Australia.

Update September 22: EP Cube datasheet now available.

Canadian Solar And Energy Storage

While Canadian Solar’s first foray into home batteries, the company has been involved in energy storage at a utility scale for a few years. The company shipped 896 MWh of battery storage last year – which was its first full year in the segment. Earlier this year, the company expected to ship 1.8 – 1.9 GWh of storage in 2022, so double that of 2021. In May, the company stated it had a pipeline of more than 27 GWh of battery storage projects for its development arm.

Although reasonably new to the energy storage arena, Canadian Solar is an old hand when it comes to PV. Best known for its solar panels, it has shipped around 76 GW of modules since the company was founded 21 years ago.

The company’s PV products have been pretty popular in Australia, with Canadian Solar panel reviews here on SolarQuotes generally positive. In SQ’s Installers Choice Awards this year, the company ranked equal third for the best solar panels in 2022 (budget category).

Canadian Solar also manufactures inverters for utility, commercial and residential applications; but none appear on the Clean Energy Council’s approved inverter list for the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES). This doesn’t necessarily mean the inverters are bad; it could just be the company hasn’t bothered with getting these inverter products into the Australian market.

Assuming the EP Cube becomes available in Australia, here’s hoping Canadian Solar’s reputation for producing reliable panels is repeated on the home battery front. Generally speaking, home battery reliability and performance has proven to be rather bleh according to extensive testing of dozens of batteries carried out by the Canberra Battery Testing Centre.