Sungevity + E.ON Unveil Plans For German Solar Market
The solar energy company Sungevity and the electric utility company E.ON announced their intent all the way back in June 2014 to partner together for the exploitation of the Dutch market.
Following the success of that partnership, the two companies are now aiming at the German solar photovoltaic (PV) market.
“Germany is one of the world’s leading solar markets and extending our partnership with E.ON there is another exciting move for us,” stated Andrew Birch, CEO of Sungevity. “It also speaks strongly to our legacy of building partnerships with like-minded organizations to make solar power a more viable solution for energy consumers around the world.”
By utilizing Sungevity’s software solutions, solar PV plant operators in the European country will be better able to plan installations and improve production performance without the necessity of onsite inspections. Considering how time-consuming the surveying of potential rooftops can be, the partnership represents quite a bit opportunity for “saved/reduced costs.”
With regard to the expansion into the German market, E.ON commented recently that the partnership pilot will be based around the cities of Munich and Berlin.
Renew Economy provides a bit more information:
Based on a household’s energy consumption, the new service calculates the predicted hours of sunshine for the customer, as well evaluating aerial photographs and images of the building, sun orientation and available roof area, explained E.ON CEO, Robert Hienz. He added that it additionally gauges the profits to be expected and how much of the generated electricity can be used by the household.
The control system also dynamically regulates the amount of electricity for both self-consumption and feed-in, which will help to increase the overall performance of the PV system and shorten the payback periods. Overall, the implementation of Sungevity’s software could see deployment of PV more streamlined and cost effective.
As per the set-up of the new partnership, customers will (reportedly) get a guarantee via their contracts for the forecasted energy production in kWh (kilowatt-hours) over a 10-year period of time. Under the worst case scenario, where the solar PV system generates far less electricity than forecasted, the difference will be covered via insurance from E.ON — thereby making the setup far more attractive to potential customers.
Image Credit: Sungevity
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