Storage Solutions for New and Existing PV Systems

With an SMA Energy System Home, automatic load control and intermediate storage can be combined.

The following examples show the measures that can be taken to achieve these values:

Daily profile of a PV system, consumption and self-consumption – without load control (example)

The red frame in this example shows a load peak in the evening. This load peak, for example, is caused by a washing machine that is switched on manually in the evening.

Daily profile of a PV system, consumption and self-consumption – with load control and intermediate storage (example for a SMA storage system)

By integrating a battery into the system, a portion of the consumption can be covered by intermediate storage. In this example, the coverage is 100%. This means that there is no longer a requirement for purchased electricity.

By way of the Energy balance page in Sunny Portal, an overview of the energy consumption in the house, energy generation by the PV system and the feeding in of excess PV energy into the utility grid is available at all times. The charging and discharging of any available battery is also visualized. This shows when the PV energy stored intermediately in the battery is consumed in the household, during the evening for example. Purchase of electricity can be avoided and the energy costs are decreased.

SMA Energy System Home with Sunny Island

PV system with SMA storage system with Sunny Island (example)

At the core of the SMA Energy System Home with Sunny Island is the Sunny Island. It can use different low-voltage batteries with different battery capacities and thus, with regard to system design, offers great flexibility. Also, in the SMA storage system, different SMA PV inverters can be used.

With a high-voltage battery and the SMA Energy Meter, the Sunny Island becomes an SMA Energy System Home. The SMA Energy Meter can also be optionally replaced by the Sunny Home Manager. By using the Sunny Home Manager, the integration of EV chargers (with forecast-based charging), heat pumps and other controllable loads becomes possible.

When using the Sunny Island inverter, the SMA Energy System Home can be set up as single-phase and three-phase and can be extended with a battery-backup function. The SMA Energy System Home with battery-backup function supplies the loads with electric current in the event of a grid failure and also forms a battery-backup grid (see the Planning Guidelines "SMA Energy System Home with Battery Backup Function" at www.SMA-Solar.com).

The SMA Energy System Home with Sunny Island offers the functions listed in the following table depending on the expansion stage.

¹⁾ To be able to only use the Sunny Island for increased self-consumption, only the device types SI4.4-M12, SI4.4-M13, SI6.0H-12, SI6.0H-13, SI8.0H-12 and SI8.0H-13 may be used. In this case, an SMA Energy Meter must be used for recording measured values.

²⁾ When using PV inverters from third-party providers, it must be ensured that the grid operator can access the required grid management services via the interfaces or user interfaces of the third-party provider.

SMA Energy System Home with Sunny Boy Storage

PV system with SMA Energy System Home with Sunny Boy Storage (example)

At the core of the SMA Energy System Home with Sunny Boy Storage is the Sunny Boy Storage 2.5 / 3.7 / 5.0 / 6.0. The Sunny Boy Storage is a single-phase, AC coupled battery inverter for parallel grid operation. By default, the Sunny Boy Storage 3.7-6.0 has an integrated emergency power function and, together with a backup-box, can optionally form a battery-backup system.

The Sunny Boy Storage converts the direct current supplied by a battery into grid-compliant alternating current. With a high-voltage battery and the SMA Energy Meter, the Sunny Boy Storage becomes an SMA Energy System Home.

The SMA Energy Meter can also be optionally replaced by the Sunny Home Manager. By using the Sunny Home Manager, the integration of EV chargers (with forecast-based charging), heat pumps and other controllable loads becomes possible.

The SMA Energy System Home with Sunny Boy Storage offers the functions listed in the following table depending on the expansion stage.

³⁾ The use of an SMA Energy Meter is recommended for recording measured values.

⁴⁾ When using PV inverters from third-party providers, it must be ensured that the grid operator can access the required grid management services via the interfaces or user interfaces of the third-party provider.

SMA Energy System Home with Sunny Tripower Smart Energy

PV system with SMA Energy System Home with Sunny Tripower Smart Energy (example basic system)

The most important part of the SMA Energy System Home with the Sunny Tripower Smart Energy is the Sunny Tripower 5.0 / 6.0 / 8.0 / 10.0 Smart Energy. The Sunny Tripower Smart Energy is a three-phase hybrid inverter which can convert both direct current into alternating current and alternating current into direct current. Thus, the current generated by the PV system can be fed into the household grid and the battery charged both on the DC side and AC side. The basic system consists of a Sunny Tripower Smart Energy, a high-voltage battery and an energy meter. In an extended system, the energy meter is replaced by a Sunny Home Manager.

The system can be extended by additional SMA PV inverters whose excess energy can be intermediately stored in the battery (see presentation in the extended system) through the AC-side charging of the Sunny Tripower Smart Energy. By using the Sunny Home Manager, the integration of EV chargers (with forecast-based charging), heat pumps and other controllable loads becomes possible. The Sunny Tripower Smart Energy has an integrated battery-backup function to which selected single- and three-phase loads can be connected. In the event of a grid failure, the integrated contactor automatically disconnects these at all poles from the utility grid and supplies them with electric current (see "SMA Energy System Home with Battery-Backup Function" at www.SMA-Solar.com).

⁵⁾ Only applies to one Sunny Tripower Smart Energy. A Sunny Home Manager is necessary for several PV inverters.