Solar Power + Battery System From Bosch Now On The Market
This article was first published on Green Building Elements (image changed).
Bosch has decided to step up to the plate and construct an integrated solar power supply system called the BPT-S 5 Hybrid. Almost everything is integrated into it. The company integrated an inverter, Saft lithium-ion batteries, and an energy management system (charge controller) into a single unit which is certified and safety tested for domestic installations.
Credit: Bosch
Speaking of installations: This design enables you to circumvent some of the installation tasks, such wiring of the batteries, charge controller, and inverter. A unit like this can simply be plugged into the house or grid as a gasoline-powered generator would be.
“Bosch Power Tec is a pioneer in the field of development of PV storage solutions. The BPT-S 5 Hybrid is a fully integrated system, and in terms of quality, safety and efficiency the industry benchmark. Therefore, Saft with its high quality standards and extensive experience has been the logical choice in this partnership”, says Dr. Andreas Stratmann, General Manager of Bosch Power Tec GmbH.
“Saft Li-ion technology proved its capability to meet the performance, reliability and safety needs of domestic users in the Sol-ion project that introduced Li-ion batteries into PV systems on the largest scale ever tested in Europe,” says François Bouchon, Director of Energy Storage at Saft. “Now, with this very important product for Bosch, we are building on the Sol-ion foundation as Saft Li-ion batteries are truly making the transition into the commercial arena.”
A solar panel system which uses batteries operates by using the solar panel to charge the batteries through a charge controller. The charge controller stops charging the batteries and only provides them with a small current to prevent self-discharge from damaging the batteries (often called bricking). The batteries then provide a smooth, uninterrupted supply of power to the inverter, which then powers the household appliances directly.
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
CleanTechnica Holiday Wish Book
Our Latest EVObsession Video
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.
So how much per unit capacity?
I found this from another forum
Bosch BPT-S 5 Hybrid
Price list – March 2014
Bosch BPT-S 5 Hybrid 4.4 kWh $17,718
Bosch BPT-S 5 Hybrid 6.6 kWh $21,736
Bosch BPT-S 5 Hybrid 8.8 kWh $25,753
Bosch BPT-S 5 Hybrid 11.0 kWh $29,771
Bosch BPT-S 5 Hybrid 13.2 kWh $33,788
Currently the bosch site states:
Market offensive for storage systems from Bosch
25% discount combined with 10-year warranty for the battery
Still a bit steep for me but it appears to be a state of the art machine that simplifies a lot.
Is it available in the US market or only Germany?
Yes, any pricing information, preferably in $/kwh capacity?
A while back I crunched some numbers for home energy storage based on electric car battery pack prices and came up with a cost of about 16 cents a kilowatt-hour before installation. Of course the first systems on the market will be more expensive as their makers charge people the early adopter premium and because they are competing with expensive lead acid battery storage. But competition will rapidly bring the price down, as we are seeing with electric cars. (These systems will be will be revolutionary in Australia.)
According to their website, it comes in 4.4kwh & 6.6kwh models. Having a harder time finding cost & geographic availability info.
The 4.4 and 6.6 kwh models are just the newly released versions and join an 8.8kwh, 11kwh and 13.2 kwh model for a total of 5 size options depending on system needs.
This is an ingenious product that will see massive interest as FiTs get dropped. Completely modular so you step up the battery capacity in 2.2 kwh steps to size the system for your home. Allows you to time shift solar production to time of use rather then time of production. Seamlessly integrates with the grid as stored enery becomes insufficient. Seamlessly supplies power directly from your solar array in the event of a grid failure and all neatly contained in a completely non threatening box the size of a smallish refrigerator.
Very smart product development here. Considering it replaces the grid feed inverter and contains all charging, storage and smart control technology I think it will see a lot of interest if it is priced somewhere around the $1,000 per kwh area price range. Ie $4,400 for the entry level model and $13,200 for the largest. At their predicted 7,000 charge cycle lifespan that would mean this system would cost ~14c per kwh over its life. Where I live retail power is 28c/kwh and the FiT for surplus solar is 8c/kwh which means I would be better off by 6c/kwh to store and use my own generated power then feed in and buy back later if the price is around my predictions/hope.
I could end up being proven wrong, but I doubt it’s in the $1,000/kwh range. It’s still based off lithium-ion batteries, which are closer to the $1,250-$1,500/khw range for most other storage providers.
Only tech’s I’ve seen listed in the $1,000/kwh range have been completely different battery chemistry (Eos & Aquion).
$1,500 as a starting point for a technology in its infancy I would consider “in the $1000/kwh range” It would make the cost 20c/kwh stored over the system’s life. considering the spread between FiT and retail rates currently about 20c/kwh in most states that is exactly the point at which the system becomes break even, any increase in retail tariffs or decrease in system costs now becomes profit for the owner of the system.
Waiting to see one