ASD Sonnenspeicher, a solar energy storage system made by Automatic Storage Device (ASD) has won a German Renewables Award 2013 in the ‘Innovative Product of the Year’ category.
The award was given on 14 November at an awards ceremony in Hamburg. According to the company, ASD Sonnenspeicher (‘Sunstorage’) overcomes several technical challenges faced by energy storage systems.
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The unit can charge from as little as one watt of energy from a PV system. Sonnenspeicher can allow for self-sufficient energy use, disconnecting from the grid if enough energy is supplied to power the whole building it is installed at. Connected to all three phases of electricity in a building, the device allows continuous use of electricity, even in a power cut. On the slowest phases, Sonnenspeicher can switch on or off in 12 milliseconds, and can switch between the power grid and the battery within 1 millisecond.
Manufactured in Germany, the Sonnenspeicher is suitable for residential and commercial operation. The lithium-ion storage system utilises lithium iron phosphate battery technology, which according to ASD is very safe and can “neither ignite nor explode”. If the system is overcharged, no oxygen is released and no lithium deposited, which the company claims eliminates the risk of explosion.
The unit is available in four models, the Sonnenspeicher 300 and 600 which have respective storage capacities of 4.8kWh, 8.06kWh, and the Sonnenspeicher 900 and 1,000 models which both have storage capacities of 13.44kWh.
ASD managing director Walter Wolfram apparently began devising the company's first solar storage system after he was unable to find a suitable storage system for his own home. Prof Andreas Reuter, director of Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology, explaining the judges' decision to award 'Innovative Product of the Year' to ASD, said: “The ASD solar storage system sets new standards by storing solar energy much more efficiently. It eases the burden on the grid and uses intelligent power management to maximise on-site consumption. The system therefore has the potential to significantly help Germany and other countries reach their energy policy goals”.
The German Renewables Award ceremony was held by the industry body Renewable Energy Hamburg Cluster (EEHH).
