Saft begins volume production of Li-Ion batteries for Bosch residential energy management and storage system
26 July 2013
Saft has entered high volume series production of lithium-ion batteries for Bosch’s BPT-S 5 hybrid intelligent energy management and storage solution. The Bosch BPT-S 5 Hybrid integrates a solar inverter, an energy management system and Li-ion batteries in a single unit certified and safety tested for domestic installations in Germany.
The system effectively time-shifts the availability of solar power from the periods of peak production to make it available exactly when it is needed. This enables a typical four-person household to achieve self-consumption rates of 80% or more.
The Bosch BPT-S 5 Hybrid system, launched in 2012, is now being delivered in volume to enable domestic photovoltaic producers to benefit from the market incentive program introduced by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) in May 2013.
With subsidies worth a total of €25 million (US$33 million) until the end of the year for eligible, certified decentralized battery storage systems supporting an on-grid PV system, the market potential is estimated at between 8-10,000 systems.
The Bosch BPT-S 5 Hybrid system is fully certified and safety tested, including the Li-ion batteries, and Bosch already has more than 350 installers fully trained and ready to deploy the units across Germany.
Please tell me more. I really love this application, but having considered it for myself, I understand cost is an essential element that would, depending on what it was, make this either an emotional or rational decision. I think I need to get these storage systems at a cost of about $150-200.
Posted by: Brotherkenny4 | 26 July 2013 at 07:29 AM
There is very little information on it.
It mentions 4.4, 6.6, 8.8 and 13.2 KwH installations.
The system is about the size of a large fridge.
I wouldn't imagine it would be cheap, say e500 / KwH, (I am guessing here).
Obviously, it is a great idea, but it all comes down to cost (and you won't be going off grid for 12 months a year with it any time soon).
Posted by: mahonj | 26 July 2013 at 09:39 AM
Costs to the individual in Germany are a matter of how much they get of their huge subsidies.
As mahonj says, in Germany at least this in no way means year round power.
For many places in the US, being more southerly, it is a different matter
Posted by: Davemart | 26 July 2013 at 10:38 AM
It is so ironic that gloomy, overcast Germany is the poster child for solar power systems. I guess a wealthy country can afford such extravagances. You will know that solar is getting competitive with cheap fossil fuels (e.g. coal) when it becomes viable without subsidies or other market distortions in a poor, sunny country.
Posted by: Nick Lyons | 26 July 2013 at 05:34 PM
With German engineering copied by China, there will soon be 90% of the functionality with a fraction the cost.
Posted by: kelly | 26 July 2013 at 06:16 PM
Solar City is in trials with a similar idea, but a couple years away from commercialization if I recall.
Princeton Power Systems is the only UL listed inverter I have seen in the US market that can do this for residential applications. It is competitive with the ensemble of SMA inverters that it would take to do the same job, except SMA does not support Lithium Ion voltage ranges yet. PPS does. Not sure why SMA is so far behind, Lithium Ion voltage ranges are comparable to solar panel ranges.
Posted by: Jim McLaughlin | 26 July 2013 at 08:30 PM
We live in solar-power-friendly central California. We have a 3.4kW (nominal) net metered PV system. In summer, we often produce more than 2X our usage. Some winter days we may produce much less than half our usage. Over the course of a year, we are producing a bit more than we consume, so far.
Time-shifting the availability of solar power on a daily basis doesn't address the problem of very large seasonal mismatches in production/consumption. Since I get to use the grid as my long term storage, this kind of system would not make financial sense for me. It would be less effective than the system I already have.
The grid is not actually a storage system, of course--my 'storage' relies on generation somewhere on the grid to provide electrons when the sun isn't shining. Unless some kind of actual large scale storage is added to the grid, net metering cannot scale past some small percentage of load on the grid without destabilizing it.
I would like to see this kind of storage deployed on a neighborhood basis, so as to reduce transmission losses and improve local grid stability. It would presumably be less expensive per unit as well.
Posted by: Nick Lyons | 27 July 2013 at 08:02 AM
SUCH SYSTEMS WILL BE GREAT USE IN COUNTRIES LIKE INDIA. THESE SYSTEMS CAN BE MANUFACTURED IN INDIA TO REDUCE COST AND CAN CAN BE REAL GREEN SOURCE OF POWER . THOUSANDS OF COAL CAN BE SVED.
Posted by: Nirmalkumar | 28 July 2013 at 01:56 AM
Nick,
It is already happening: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-25/solar-cheaper-than-diesel-making-india-s-mittal-believer-energy.html
Posted by: Arne | 29 July 2013 at 12:45 AM
What about 'we-get-to-use-the-atmosphere-as-a-free-garbage-dump' distortion. So easy to forget, isn't it?
Posted by: Arne | 29 July 2013 at 12:53 AM
Will Asia become the prime leader in clean energy production?
India, China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and many other Asian countries are installing more solar facilities than EU and USA.
Posted by: HarveyD | 29 July 2013 at 01:16 PM