Solar Tech Talk E15: All About Storage with Duracell Power Center

In our Fall 2022 episode of Solar Tech Talk, our BayWa r.e. product experts Tiernay Marsh and Aaron Bingham sit down with industry connoisseurs to talk about what they are seeing in the realm of storage. Watch the recording, listen to the podcast, or read about the highlights below.

Highlights from This Episode:

Flashback to Anaheim

What was exciting

As we look back on the biggest trade show of the year, Tiernay and Aaron highlight a few key takeaways that stood out at RE+ in Anaheim. First and foremost, the new types of energy solutions really caught their eye. Everything from “small portable solutions and larger residential-focused or residential-oriented solutions on up through C&I and large-scale utility solutions”. RE+ had it all!

Mods, Mods, Mods

While there was a lot of talk about new technologies, PV modules were at the top of everyone’s minds. Tiernay talks about how excited we all are to “see module manufacturers coming back with plans for the future now that there’s a lot of IRA funds floating around.” And since the IRA has provisions for tax credits on domestically made modules, the potential for more American made products is on the horizon, perhaps as early as 2024.

Duracell Power Center: The New Storage System is Taking the Industry by Storm (11:43)

Our featured guest on Solar Tech Talk: Episode 14 is Duracell Power Center, the newly emerged energy storage branch of household brand name Duracell. Aaron and Tiernay sit down with Aaron Wright and Gabriel Williams to learn about their all-inclusive system and why installers are latching on to this innovative new offering.

Featuring:

Gabriel Williams, Southeast Sales Manager at Duracell Power Center

Entering the Home Storage Market (11:51)

First and foremost, Tiernay and Aaron asked why Duracell has added an energy storage approach to their overall brand strategy. “When we launched, we really wanted to bring a brand to market that consumers know and really change the way that solar is being presented to homeowners,” says Gabriel. “We have the complete ecosystem of products which consists of micro inverters, energy storage, and EV chargers with a fully customizable and modular solution to really simplify it for both the consumer and the installer.” The goal for Duracell Power Center is to improve the installation experience and the homeowner experience.

So, What Does That Look Like? (12:59)

For Duracell, making an appealing product for both installers and homeowners means allowing for system enhancements in a way many other brands do not. Gabriel explains: “We’ve implemented a trunk cabling system that allows everything to have precut segments completely plug and play, reducing the cost of installation by 5-10% on the roof because there’s no cutting required when installing our microinverters. And with our ESS system, it’s a very simple AC coupled solution with multiple options.”

Those ESS options come in 5kw and 10kw that hang easily on a rack on the wall – a flexible solution for designers, purchasers, and installers. And the perhaps the best part is that it comes all in one SKU. That means no shopping around for matching components and no waiting on other parts to arrive – it all comes together, ready to install.

For homeowners, the system has the helpful ability to grow their storage system as their home grows in energy use. “We have a really unique ability to increase the capacity of our system in 14kwh increments,” Gabriel shared. “So going from 14 to 28 to 42kwh on a single power electronics board.” This also means that installers can come back to homeowners and make another sale when the home is in need of more storage.

See Duracell Power Center Products on the BayWa r.e. Webstore

Saving Install Time with Microinverters (25:10)

When it comes to microinverters, Duracell Power Center has again made ease of install a priority, by building inverters that “are designed to both work with the Power Center solution and independently.” The company’s three options:

• Single – 50-watt AC: One microinverter to one module
• Dual – 700-watt AC: One microinverter to two modules
• Quad – 1500-watt AC: One microinverter to four modules

All of these microinverters “can be fully mixed and matched and configured however [the installer] sees the best fit within their array,” said Gabriel. This flexibility allows for multiple design variations to accommodate any roof type. Pairing the microinverters with Duracell Power Center’s precut front cabling in 2 meter or 4 meter segments also allows the full system to be completely plug and play.

And there is more on the horizon for Duracell Power Center. Watch or listen to the webinar to get more in-depth information on the topics above and to learn about their new products launching in 2023.