The company that single-handedly created the billion-dollar home standby generator market will now draw on its best-in-class technology and extensive engineering expertise to offer a complete ecosystem of new energy storage and management products. Generac Power Systems' next step into clean energy, energy storage and energy management will deliver greater value to distributors and end users.
Following the acquisitions of Neurio Technology Inc., a maker of innovative home energy management systems, and Pika Energy Inc., a manufacturer of advanced residential and commercial solar energy storage systems, Generac will design, manufacture, market and sell environmentally responsible solar energy storage systems and home energy management tools.
Generac is poised to earn the upper hand in the residential solar energy storage marketplace with its new array of Clean Energy solutions and its capacity to leverage a successful omnichannel market development strategy.
"Generac's expansion into what we see as an emerging marketplace—solar power storage—is a further diversification of our product portfolio," said Michael Rather, vice president of sales, Generac Power Systems. "We are not selling solar panels but strictly battery storage."
Rather said this emerging market not only needed a supplier that would answer the phone when it rang, but also one that has experience supplying similar products to the marketplace. "We knew we could take our experience with the home standby generator market and apply it to this endeavor," Rather said.
Generac's new Clean Energy products include:
PWRview Home Energy Monitor and App: PWRcell is the most fully integrated solar storage solution available and offers the most efficient, flexible and powerful all-in-one storage platform. The system offers 8kW of continuous power and 12kW surge capacity to start heavy loads such as air conditioners. Unique DC-coupled technology charges and discharges the batteries at more than 96% efficiency. Better efficiency means more energy is available for use by the system owner. The easily configurable battery platform is scalable from 8.6kWh up to 34.2kWh and can be expanded at any time to meet any budget or requirement. Integrated PWRview energy monitoring technology provides powerful insights to enable better energy use decisions and the fully integrated hardware streamlines installation and use for a better ownership experience
PWRview Home Energy Monitor and App: The Generac PWRview is a standalone home energy monitoring system that provides powerful insights into home energy use. Through the PWRview app—available for all iPhone and Android devices—users get a real-time snapshot of how energy is used in the home and what that energy costs.
Over time, PWRview creates an energy profile of the home, giving users better information to make decisions on their own energy usage. PWRview is integrated into PWRcell, immediately allowing users to optimize how they use the power stored in the PWRcell batteries.
SnapRS: Generac SnapRS is an inline PV rapid-shutdown device that works with PWRcell and PV Link to make PV installations strong and safe. This patented device is a reliable solution for NEC 2017/2020 690.12 rapid shutdown compliance. With no moving parts on board, SnapRS makes module-level rapid shutdown easy and robust.
PV Link Substring Optimizer: Generac PV Link works with PWRcell and SnapRS to create flexible and easy to install solar arrays. Able to control up to nine PV modules each, PV Link and SnapRS drastically reduces the amount of complex powerelectronic hardware needed to install rapid shutdown compliant PV arrays.
Two key differences between Generac's solar storage system and others currently on the market are:
-
The easily configurable battery platform is scalable from 9kWh to 17.1kWh whereas the competition only offers a 9kWh battery.
-
The system weighs 75 pounds (compared to the competition's 250 pounds), meaning it can easily be shipped via UPS and can easily be installed by one person.
The company kicked off an extensive training program on Nov. 1, 2019 and has trained hundreds of contractors on how easy the new units are to install. Rather said electricians, contractors more pinned to the solar side of business and roofing contractors find these products appealing, as well as end users in states such as California and Massachusetts that have enticing incentive programs.
Generac Clean Energy products will be available through the company's many distribution partners. "This business can be just as big as home standby generators for distributors," Rather said. "With the rapid growth of this marketplace, distributors can jump in and gain some huge advantages."
For more information about the clean energy business, products or the Generac family of brands, visit generac.com.