New Home Batteries Unveiled

A bunch of new home batteries were unveiled at the RE+ trade show last week. Here’s a quick look at a few of them.

Formerly known as SPI, ESI, and Smart Energy Week, the RE+ trade show in Anaheim, California ran from September 19 to September 22. It was a huge affair, with 814 exhibitors and most of the big names in solar and storage were there. Among them were Canadian Solar, LG Energy Solution and SunPower – each of whom unveiled or announced new or upcoming battery systems.

At this point, all of these batteries are for the USA market and it’s not clear if/when any of these will be available in Australia. (To see a bunch of energy storage products that are – check out SQ’s solar battery comparison table).

Canadian Solar (CSI Solar) EP Cube

We already covered this recently, but it’s worth briefly mentioning it again – Canadian Solar’s EP Cube is a slimline, all-in-one system with hybrid inverter scalable from 9.9 kWh to 19.9-kWh capacity per unit; with up to 6 stacks able to be connected in parallel to provide up to 119.9 kWh of energy storage and 45.6 kW power output. More on the Canadian Solar EP Cube here.

(Canadian Solar also unveiled SolBank – a utility-scale lithium-ferro-phosphate (LFP) battery with a 2.8 MWh energy capacity at the event).

SunPower SunVault Gets A Boost

SunPower USA announced it had expanded its portfolio of energy storage products with the launch of a 19.5 kWh and 39 kWh SunVault. The system provides blackout protection, and SunPower says it is backed by a 10-year warranty regardless of how much the battery is charged and drained over time.  SunVault  is comprised of two boxes – the SunVault Battery and Hub, which is the brains behind the system.

“With these new storage sizes and higher power output through multiple inverters, SunVault’s modular configuration allows customers to get the storage size they need today with the reassurance that they can grow their system as their home energy requirements change,” said Nate Coleman, Chief Products Officer at SunPower.

More information on SunVault here.

LG Home 8 And New RESU

LG Electronics USA unveiled its “Home 8” residential energy storage system; an all-in-one unit offering 7.5kW of power and a total capacity of 14.4kWh. The system is stackable up to 4 units, enabling up to 57.6kWh of usable energy.

“The LG Home 8 is an integrated system that can be incorporated into a complete smart home environment with LG home appliances, consumer electronics, and HVAC systems, all while maintaining compatibility with non-LG products,” says the company.

Meanwhile, LG Energy Solution also announced it plans to launch a next-generation home battery in the first quarter of next year – apparently this will be under the RESU banner. The new battery will offer a capacity of 10.6 kWh, expandable to 17.7kW depending on the number of battery modules installed. A maximum capacity of 35.4 kWh can be achieved by installing 2 systems with 5 modules per system. LG Energy Solution also said it is developing an inverter solution for the battery.

“Based on our strong capabilities in system integration and successful track record in product innovations, LG Energy Solution will continue to provide our customers with excellent products and solutions,” said Sales Director of LG Energy Solution ESS Team in North America, Ryan Simpson.

Well, about that – it’s great LG products are continuing to evolve; but it would also be great if LG really got its act together on cleaning up after problems with some of its others. The LG battery recall has been going on for quite some time, and we’ve seen reports from a number of affected owners here in Australia that the company’s response has been less than ideal; particularly given the serious nature of the issue.

If you’re thinking about a home battery purchase for a new or existing solar power system, get up to speed on understanding, buying and owning solar batteries.