TUV Rheinland has awarded six energy storage certificates to Phono Solar, for the Phonocube all-in-one PV inverter and storage system.
With the receipt of the certificates, the Chinese manufacturer has become the first company to receive the full set of energy storage certificates issued by TUV, which issues independent inspection, testing and certification across a range of industries.
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The Phonocube is designed to better enable self-consumption of PV generated electricity in residential systems. Integrating functions including inverter, battery, connection, control, and power management, the storage system-inverter combination boosts efficiency in a PV system by storing power generated during the day and feeding it into the household power supply during the evening.
According to Phono Solar, the Phonocube uses dynamic power track technology to maxmise energy usage and prolong the life of the battery. Certification across a total of 37 tests was a two month-long process, with the Phonocube tested for performance, quality and safety.
Launched at Intersolar in Germany earlier this year, the product is expected to be targeted initially at the German market, where subsidies have recently been introduced in the form of lump sum payments to buyers of new residential PV systems that purchase energy storage. At a recent talk given at the EU PVSEC conference, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) and the International Energy Agency (IEA), explained self-consumption still holds a great deal of potential as a business model.
Phono Solar expect that small-scale trials of the Phonocube will begin before the end of this year, with batch supplies to be started in the first quarter of 2014. The company is also planning the future release of the second generation Phonocube. Phono Solar marketing manager Yuan Quan said that the new storage systems highlighted the company’s extensive investment in research and development.