sonnen enters the Belgian market through an exclusive partnership with Opteco
Wildpoldsried, 02 July 2020 - sonnen has launched in Belgium through an exclusive partnership with Opteco, one of the largest solar installers in the country. The company has marked its entry into Belgium by introducing sonnenBatterie 10, the latest battery designed for homes and small scale commercial developments. In 2019, Opteco has installed around 2,400 photovoltaic systems and is at the forefront of the national energy transition.
More than 420,000 photovoltaic systems have been installed in private households in Belgium and a majority of them are billed through a net metering scheme. With net metering, a household with a PV system will only be charged the difference between the solar energy fed into the grid and the energy drawn from the grid. However, the Belgian government has changed its regulations and will now offer a subsidy for residential storage. The subsidy was launched in Flanders at the beginning of 2020 and it offers households who install energy storage a subsidy of up to EUR 3,200 as Belgium transitions towards a decentralized energy supply.
"Besides our established markets in Europe including the DACH region, Italy and the UK, Belgium will be the 12th country where we will offer the sonnenBatterie 10," says Christoph Ostermann, CEO and founder of sonnen. "We are very pleased to have Opteco as an exclusive partner. They are one of the leading installers in Belgium and we have joined forces to capitalise on the market opportunity that has been presented with the current shift from net metering to self-consumption".
“Opteco is well known in Belgium for installing high-end quality products. With the energy transition in mind, we have been searching for a reliable partner that had the right energy storage technology. With sonnen and the sonnenBatterie 10, we’ve found a perfect match and customers will become more and independent from the national grid and benefit from sonnen’s globally recognised technoloy as well”, CEO Ben Kunnen of Opteco says.
The sonnenBatterie 10 is a modular home storage system with an output of 4.6 kW. The smallest version starts at 5.5 kWh and can scale up to 27.5 kWh. For commercial applications, the sonnenBatterie 10 can also be configured for up to 247.5 kWh.
sonnen uses only lithium iron phosphate battery modules, which are free of toxic heavy metals and cobalt - a conflict raw material. In addition, they are particularly safe and durable, which makes this an ideal energy storage technology for virtual power plants. sonnen guarantees a performance of at least 10,000 charging cycles.