Panasonic Eco Solutions North America and U.S.-based inverter manufacturer Pika Energy Inc. have partnered to offer the Harbor 10P/15P Smart Battery, a DC-coupled energy storage solution. Harbor 10P/15P will begin shipping in late 2017 and is available for pre-order today.
The solar-ready Harbor Smart Battery combines Panasonic’s lithium-ion battery modules and Pika Energy’s power electronics in a slim, floor-standing, wall-mounted enclosure. According to the partners, the solution provides 10 kWh (model 10P) or 15 kWh (model 15P) of usable energy and up to 6.7 kW of continuous power. Harbor 10P/15P can be used for clean back-up power, self-supply, time-of-use and other solar-plus-storage applications.
The battery solution is directly compatible with the Pika Energy Island, a single-inverter solution for grid-tied solar-plus-storage. Harbor 10P/15P is installed as a plug-and-play battery coupled with solar PV on a common DC bus that feeds the islanding inverter. This connection of solar and storage is enabled by Harbor 10P/15P’s internal DC/DC converter using REbus, Pika Energy’s patented nanogrid platform.
“As a world-leader in both the lithium-ion battery and solar modules, we understand the value in bringing innovative solar-plus-storage solutions to customers,” says Dan Silver, president of Panasonic Eco Solutions North America. “We’re very pleased to be working with Pika Energy to continue pushing the boundaries of performance and efficiency to unlock even greater benefits for users for a wide variety of applications.”
“A single technician can install and commission a Harbor 10P/15P in less than an hour,” says Ben Polito, Pika Energy’s president and co-founder. “Harbor is pre-wired for the Panasonic battery modules, making assembly incredibly fast and simple. Combined with our transformer-less inverter, the Pika Energy Island with Harbor 10P/15P offers a vast improvement over heavy wall-mounted battery systems and outdated multiple-inverter configurations that suffer from low efficiency, extraneous hardware and complex installations.”
