Sigenergy is a forward-facing operation focused on developing cutting-edge home and business energy solutions, including battery storage systems, solar inverters and EV chargers. The company’s world-class R&D team upholds a vision to make the planet greener through continuous innovation. Hannah Barnett spoke to Sven Albersmeier-Braun, VP Sales Central Europe, to learn more.
BYintegrating the latest electronic, digital and AI technologies, Sigenergy has built the next generation of energy products.
“We are offering the first five-in-one energy storage system,” said VP Sales Central Europe Sven Albersmeier-Braun.
“It’s a highly integrated system that combines an inverter and a power control unit for batteries in one single component. This is unique, no one has ever done it before. It means that the product has a smaller footprint and is easier to install.”
Something new
Founded in May 2022, Sigenergy has quickly moved from strength to strength. The company went on to launch its SigenStor flagship product range to the public at InterSolar 2023 in Munich. The revolutionary product integrates a solar inverter, EV DC charger, battery PCS, battery pack and EMS into one powerful energy system.
“And that’s not all,” Mr AlbersmeierBraun added, “we also launched the mySigen app, the first of its kind to use ChatGPT-4 to support customers and installers. We also use AI for the management of energy flow in the household. Very advanced storage technology is combined with AI to improve the customer experience.”
Sigenergy is made up of more than 500 employees, of whom 70% work in R&D, signalling the importance of innovation in all operations. Indeed, the company has already applied for more than 200 patents around its product range.
“We manufacture everything ourselves, ” said Mr Albersmeier-Braun. “We have a capacity of 6GW hours of battery and 12GW of power for inverters, so it was important for us to start mass production. We are already present in 34 countries with local staff covering Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. It’s a really global approach.”
Sigenergy offers battery modules of different capacity, which even can be combined for the most economic ‘perfect fit for the customer’s needs. This means flexibility and a reduced cost for the customer, because the more capacity in one module, the cheaper it runs per kWh.
“The system is very flexible,” said Mr Albersmeier-Braun, “offering more opportunities to connect to different roof tilts than any other system, reducing costs for the homeowner. We also offer an exceptional range of AC power outputs, enabling an installer to choose the best solution.”
Another of the unique selling points of the Sigenergy system is that the module enables a user to charge and discharge an EV with DC current directly from solar to car.
Range and flexibility
Safety is of course paramount in the development of such an innovative system. Much of the company’s investment into R&D
ensures the system is fit for purpose. For example, five layers of protection exist inside the battery module, including temperature sensors to detect possible anomalies early stage or using gel pads to prevent heat transferring from one cell to the other.
“Our R&D is not simply hardware focused either; a significant part also goes into AI and our app, giving us one i nterface to interact with customers and installers,” said Mr Albersmeier-Braun.
“What is really exceptional about the system is that it can be used either in residential or commercial sites with the same components.”
Sigenergy recently installed a 50kW system at a shopping mall in South Africa with a 96kWh battery. The medium-sized C&I project was designed to save money by reducing energy consumption at the supermarket.
“Then in Myanmar, we installed a system on a chicken farm,” Mr Albersmeier-Braun
continued. “It’s critical for the wellbeing of the chickens to have a stable temperature, but that’s hard to achieve. That site only gets energy from the grid a few hours a day, so using our system, the customer saves diesel and they can run it themselves.”
The Sigenergy system is seamless, working the same way for residential, C&I, on-grid and off-grid projects. It also functions with a fast, and almost uninterrupted, backup, meaning it would not be noticeable if there was a switchover during a blackout.
“People always mention the sleek design and the ease of installation, because there is no cabling,” said Mr Albersmeier-Braun. “We have the integrated connectors that join each component to the next one. That also reduces potential mistakes from an installation.”
For this level of innovation to succeed, the company works closely with suppliers such as Infineon for semiconductor parts. Sigenergy also maintains a long-running partnership with Ampace, a JV between
ATL & CATL the renowned Chinese battery cell manufacturer, to keep up with the latest generations of the technology.
Strong partnerships with certification bodies are also maintained in order to achieve certain highly important accreditations.
“Getting products certified is a complex, time-consuming process,” Mr AlbersmeierBraun explained. “So, we have a close partnership with TÜV Rheinland and TÜV Nord to ensure that we are always offering to the market a high-quality product.”
An AI future
It is clear that Sigenergy is strongly backing AI as a valuable resource to serve the renewable energy markets of the future.
“Things are getting more and more integrated and need to interact with each other,” Mr Albersmeier-Braun explained. “In Germany, from 2025 onwards, every utility needs to offer dynamic tariffs.
Virtual Power Plant networks are even
discharging batteries into the grid for stability, to be used when necessary. These are quite complex operations, so we need something that is very intelligent. We strongly believe that AI is paramount to reach these goals.
“When it comes to the energy transition , until recently, everybody was talking about solar panels, but we feel that tomorrow, everybody’s going to talk about storage. In the end, storage is in the centre of all energy flow. And only with intelligent technology, will the benefits of storage systems be realised.”
As a result, Sigenergy is using AI not only for its energy management system, but also on its customer interface, with ChatGPT-4. The company intends to fully digitalise both the operations of the system and after sales processes, including service and customer support.
Going forward, the company will continue to develop its core product, focused
on storage capacity, with the goal to be available on all continents within the next few years.
“ We are a newcomer to the market and customers are looking for something innovative,” Mr Albersmeier-Braun concluded. “When there is a lot of price pressure, it makes sense to search for a product that’s different; and we can offer that. In this way, we are making the challenge of being the newcomer an advantage for us. ”
“When I saw the product for the first time, I fell in love with it immediately. It was clear that this is something that can really make a difference and that’s very important to sell it. The other thing that motivates me is that the people I work with are all very experienced and skilled. We are a real global team, working every single day towards the success of the company. And that’s a great feeling to be part of.” n
