Q CELLS has formally launched a new integrated solar-plus-storage solution that promises to deliver a “100% sustainable power supply” to homes.
The solution, dubbed Q.HOME Cloud, combines solar and storage to meet the majority of a household’s demand, with a digital cloud solution used to cover any shortfall.
Now available in Germany and expected to be “shortly” rolled out into other markets, the Q CELLS Q.HOME Cloud can either be added to new solar PV systems or retrofitted to existing systems.
Customers can use the Cloud to connect to renewable energy generation in Germany and Austria and source the remaining portion of energy that their solar-plus-battery system is unable to provide.
The company says it adjusts the available and expected quota of energy to meet the size and location installation of each solar system and storage unit, claiming in a release sent today that “every customer receives a tailor-made, transparent and fair cloud solution”.
While residential solar and storage purchases are often an environmental decision or a decision made of the desire for energy dependence, in parts of the world where electricity is expensive, self-consumption can offer an opportunity to get system payback over time.
In some parts of the world including Germany, system owners can still receive some FiTs – albeit at reduced prices than before – for feeding surplus energy into the grid once their battery is full. In Japan, for example, new rules expected to come into effect in the next few years will stipulate that self-consumption must be achieved and only the surplus after demand is met can receive the feed-in tariff.
The company hopes there will be appeal for customers in the fact that for a monthly fee, whole houses’ electricity demand can be met with “100% eco-friendly electricity from your solar system or via the Q.HOME Cloud”. The Q.HOME Cloud can be paid for by monthly subscription. The Cloud solution is compatible with a solar array from any manufacturer, although it does need to be paired with Q CELLS solar storage equipment.
PV Tech and sister publication Energy-Storage.news spoke with Q CELLS regarding the Cloud service at last summer’s Intersolar Europe exhibition in Munich, a video from which can be viewed below.