Sonnen to offer cheap power to German homes which install solar

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpFRANKFURT Reuters – Solar battery maker sonnen said on Thursday that it will offer retail buyers of new rooftop photovoltaic systems in Germany an inexpensive power supply from the third quarter of 2022.p

pBerlin has passed renewable power legislation to speed up the country‘s transition to lowcarbon fuels and eliminate its dependency on Russian oil and gas after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which the Kremlin calls a “special military operation”.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pShellowned sonnen said that it will draw on the increasing competitiveness of homeproduced electricity from solar panels and further sales of its storage batteries.p

pGermany, with a population of 84 million, has some 500,000 household power batteries which are provided by sonnen and competitors such as Senec and Chinas BYD.p

pIndependent research this month indicated that unit sales this year may jump by 67 over 2021.p

p“Householders power costs can be brought down to zero or maybe even attract a payout for excess volumes at the end of the year,” Bavariabased sonnen said in a statement.p

pSonnen introduced a digital “community” for buyers of its batteries in 2015, which complement solar photovoltaic PV generation by capturing excess power for use later. This community shares jointly produced production volumes.p

pBefore batteries became available, homeproduced power went straight to the grid for a stateguaranteed feedin fee.p

pThis type of payment has become less lucrative as PV systems become more efficient, while energy prices have spiralled over the past year amid globally tight supply.p

pSonnen is now offering to tie battery customers into a pool of vendors against a flat volume entitlement, the value of which is determined each year. Customers opting for the model are given a measuring device to deal with the billing and allocation of unused power.p

pSonnen said it will pay 10 cents per kilowatt hour kWh, compared with the feedin fee of between 6.34 and 6.53 cents which households with PV systems up to 40 kWp earn in April.p

pThis compared with the average solar wholesale market value of more than 20 cents in March.[ELDE] p

p

pp Reporting by Vera Eckert Editing by Alexander Smithp

divdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivdivdiv