SunPower, a leading residential solar technology and energy services provider, has announced the general availability of its most powerful SunVault® energy storage solution along with new software updates to maximize savings with stored energy.
Key features of the new SunVault battery storage firmware include:
Greater electricity savings with smarter battery software
SunPower introduced an enhanced operating software that maximizes customer savings with solar and storage by creating a smarter integration with the homeowner’s local utility. Now, with one click, homeowners can save more money on their electricity bills by setting their SunVault to use stored energy when utility “Time of Use” rates are higher. For some utilities, the price of electricity during peak hours can be more than twice as expensive as in typical hours.
Using real-time analytics, the Cost-Savings mode automatically charges and discharges the battery based on cost-effectiveness. This reduces a home’s reliance on grid energy when rates are highest and exports energy back to the grid when the best rates are offered – especially valuable in September for California homeowners when credits are worth much more under the state’s new net energy metering policy, NEM 3.0. A SunPower solar-only system can reduce a customer’s electricity bill by 55-70% in California; with SunVault, the bill can be reduced* up to 95%.
“Battery storage completes the solar experience and can give customers more peace of mind when it comes to avoiding high energy costs,” said Shawn Fitzgerald, vice president of corporate development and product strategy at SunPower. “SunPower’s SunVault battery storage goes beyond back up power to do what’s best for the homeowner – sell stored energy back to the grid to offset the bill, deploy power when rates are highest or reserve energy to withstand an outage – making solar paired with battery storage an extremely cost-effective way to power a home.”
Enhanced energy capacity to provide more power in less space
The latest SunVault battery configuration offers increased energy density, enabling it to store more energy in a single box. Now, SunVault includes 19.5 kWh of energy storage and can be configured up to 39 kWh, a nearly 50% increase in energy capacity from previous generations. For homeowners, this means they can purchase a larger battery solution that can provide even more savings and backup power.
Make informed decisions with predictive energy consumption
This fall, SunPower will release a new feature that can accurately forecast a home’s energy needs to optimize savings and energy security. The new enhanced version of SunVault can analyze utility rates, a home’s energy usage trends, historical weather patterns and real time equipment performance to estimate whether to store or discharge energy for optimal system performance. This enables the battery to avoid potential energy loss or oversupply while maximizing savings for homeowners under California NEM 3.0 which made billing rates more complicated.
Homeowners can manage their SunVault energy storage through the mySunPower® app, including the enhanced Cost-Savings mode and monitoring energy reserves during peak demand. Further, all SunVault energy storage systems are backed by a 10-year warranty regardless of how much the battery is charged and drained over time.