Meeting demand for C&I storage with SINEXCEL’s Sirius 135K system

The development of an energy storage system for the C&I sector in particular is notable, as this sector has long been a focus for the company, according to Dr. Xiang Huang, general manager of ESMS at SINEXCEL Europe, who spoke with Energy-Storage.news at the Intersolar event. Huang said that combining expertise in the C&I space with close collaboration with customers was crucial to delivering new products in a sector that has moved as quickly as storage.

“Everyone has very limited resources, both in R&D and sales and promotion,” Huang said. “The best way to do it is to match the two resources together: the technical advancement and the customers’ observations and feedback from the market.”

Energy-Storage.news: What demand is there for the Sirius 135K system?

Dr. Xiang Huang: Many customers are coming for the grid-forming function of the 135K modules. Those want it for the grid, especially this time influenced by the blackout in Iberia, as people realised that battery energy storage needs to be able to black start the grid, so that’s the most frequent ask. The second is the high IP rating. The modules are sometimes not necessarily integrated into the heart [of a system], so the integrator or workers needs to build extra housing for the module, which is a huge waste of time and effort.

Third [is] definitely coming from our experience with different kinds of cells. We’re offering an excellent BESS module, but you’re not having dialogue with different manufacturers; [it] still takes efforts to [work with] intermediaries solve that issue. We have gathered about 15 years of experience tuning with cell manufacturers – we have a great coverage of them – so for us, it’s a direct go when [customers] come to us.

Probably 135K are the only modules that have the universality that fulfil different grid standards and frequencies. One can design and integrate this module – deploying it in the UK, Europe and in the US – without switching to another module because of the differences in grid codes.

For the 135K module, leveraging high-efficiency SiC power devices and a true 3P4W topology, among other innovations, it achieves 98% PCS efficiency — representing a 1% improvement compared to conventional PCS solutions. That reflects on the end users of 1-2% efficiency upgrades, which in the end results in life cycle [savings] around €2,500. That meets each other very well.

Is it challenging to build an energy storage product that can work with different kinds of renewable technologies?

It’s very challenging. The hybrid systems – or even [those] including chargers – are a very challenging part, because they’re built and designed with different mindsets. Coordinating is a different dimension, and the electronic products used are also reacting differently.

SINEXCEL has been doing microgrids for years – we’ve been doing DC-DC solutions for a long time – and DC-DC means the capability to switch on-grid and off-grid to take the PV power direct to batteries, and the in the future to dissipate the energy to the chargers. This influences us in decision-making, because we find that we need to develop the product that has to be deployed with the usage of the customers [in mind] instead of jumping too much.

We need to follow the trends; as I mentioned, the blackouts really drove us to investigate this function for the European market because PV has been hugely deployed, and they need a really good company there to regulate the PV, and make all these assets valid for the whole community.

It’s not only the BESS side. In our system, we have PV and wind energy as well [alongside] biomass and biogas, so there are many parties to integrate. Even a subtle change in the BESS will cause a lot of problems; the system works with several components, and just a tiny upgrade, if you’re not doing the universality well, can create a chain effect where you have to change each part. We try to stay steady, with less updates but one update, let’s say annually, that can fulfil all the requirements, so we don’t give the integrator a headache.

Do you expect SINEXCEL to focus on the C&I sector in the future?

SINEXCEL is [historically] based on the C&I scenario, so our growth is based on existing business and partnerships. Generally, we will help our customers to build larger and larger projects, because many of them are improving themselves in both techniques and resources.

That is logical, because we see large batches of people moving from the residential sector to C&I, [as they have] enough technical and product know-how to challenge the C&I scenario. And there are also some C&I partners that are trying to challenge at the utility level, so that is our way to go along.

In residential and C&I, these trends are due to different kinds of policies that result from issues with the grids, such as negative electricity prices. This means that those PV systems need to be directed to batteries rather than direct feedback to the grid because investors or owners are losing money.

There’s a huge demand for PV and battery storage in recent years. Renewable energies are good, but they will create grid congestion by feeding simultaneously to the grid when conditions are good; when the sun shines, everyone has the sunshine but when it’s raining, nobody is contributing power. So the street is difficult to build wide and difficult to build tall.

The smartest way is for each household, or each C&I entity, to have their own pool at home so that they have a buffer where they can plan – or at least be regulated to the street – so they can keep energy to the street always moving without energy to the street fluctuating.