A report by The Australian stated that a German company is taking the fight to Tesla Powerwall and Redflow of Australia by offering solar battery storage systems with built-in intelligence. Australians can now buy Sonnen energy systems that can store energy for later use, but also comes for selling power to other Sonnen users across the grid. It’s just like energy credits to other Sonnen users.
Managing Director Oliver Koch who visited Australia said that the company was created in the small Bavarian village of Wildpoldsried six years ago. The village is centered on a rural community and has a history of green conservative politics. The two founders of the company originally thought of retrofitting petrol-powered car with theory system to make it electric but later abandoned the idea and shifted to building energy storage systems instead. Now, Sennon employs 160 people with 40 in RnD and 40 in manufacture and sales. The company also has subsidiaries in Italy, the United Kingdom and now, Australia. The company has sold more than 11,000 units around the world with unit prices ranging from $10,000 to $20,000. The package comes with an inverted for converting DC to AC power and the units are available as 2 kWh up to 16 kWh, 2 kWh increments thus presenting wide choices for the consumers.
Sonnen is similar to its rivals Redflow and Tesla Powerwall which is designed to store energy for later use. The difference, according to Koch is that its intelligent software can work out when certain appliances can run at home, plus, users can also configure the system using a smartphone application. He also added that the intelligent system would work with a network operator in determining whether to feed more energy to the grid on a windy or sunny day before battery charging. The company would also like to implement its Germany Sonnen community concept in Australia were users can buy and sell power from each.