PES caught up with Simon Schandert, Director of Production, Technology Development and Technical Support, at the industrial storage manufacturer TESVOLT, to find out about storage for businesses. There is optimism in the air for the future of our industry and a change in philosophy…
PES: Welcome back to PES Solar/PV magazine. Thanks for talking with us. Would you like to begin by explaining a little about the background of your organisation and how you currently serve the solar industry?
Simon Schandert: As a manufacturer of storage systems, we concentrate specifically on meeting the needs of commercial businesses. Our systems are designed to serve this segment of the market and business operators are our primary focus.
Historically, private households and large industrial consumers have been well served, whereas the business community has not. We offer customers solutions that are specifically tailored to their companies’ needs, yet can be easily installed by any electrician.
The option of incorporating high-capacity, good output storage technology into PV installations, at a sensible price, is giving a tremendous boost to the solar market. Thanks to large-scale storage systems, installers are once again able to construct big PV systems and achieve corresponding margins. Such solutions in Germany are even allowing end users to generate profits that are sometimes as high as those seen in 2010.
PES: Is solar/PV a growing market?
How are you capitalising on this growth?
SS: We still believe the solar sector to be a growth market. The sun remains the energy source that is easiest to calculate and system construction costs are low.
Storage technology has made it once again practical to build large-scale installations. In the long term, these complex solutions are even relieving the burden on the grid and we all want to get away from coal and nuclear power. Without PV technology and storage systems, this goal would be unthinkable.
