Behind the Scenes With Sungrow – The Leaders Powering Australia’s Energy Shift! | All Energy Expo

Why distributors choose Sungrow

Adrian, Raystech’s C&I director, said the distributor values Sungrow’s global position, ongoing product development and established Australian presence. Sungrow has operated in Australia for 12 years, while the company has more than 25 years of global experience, according to the discussion.

Adrian also pointed to the importance of confidence in a manufacturer’s long-term presence when customers are purchasing systems with warranties lasting 10 years.

An integrated solar, battery and EV ecosystem

Richard, Sungrow’s C&I solution manager in the channel department, said the company develops solar inverters, batteries and EV chargers. The goal is for these products to communicate with each other rather than operate as separate devices from different manufacturers.

He described this integrated approach as a way for distributors to offer customers a one-stop solution. Sungrow’s products can also be managed through its iSolarCloud platform when used with an SR Logger 1000, allowing solar, battery and EV charging equipment to be controlled together according to a selected wholesale strategy.

Richard said Sungrow has more than 400,000 systems still operating in Australia after 12 years. He also referred to the company’s large Australian technical support team as an important part of its offering.

Commercial batteries and DC-coupled storage

Sungrow’s next focus is commercial energy storage. Richard said the Australian PV market already has a large commercial presence, while commercial batteries are only beginning to develop at scale. He referred to the company’s hybrid 110 product and stackable 50 kW module as part of this expansion.

The discussion also covered the difference between AC-coupled and DC-coupled battery systems. Richard said conventional AC-coupled storage can add more demand to the grid. Sungrow’s DC-coupled approach is intended to make the battery less visible from the grid’s perspective, while still allowing storage to be added to a solar installation.

This is relevant as Australia considers how to increase battery capacity without creating additional challenges for electricity networks. The discussion did not provide detailed performance results or project-specific comparisons between the two approaches.

Grid-forming inverters and future grid requirements

Richard said Australia’s electricity system is moving towards requirements for inverters to support grid-forming functions. He contrasted this with grid-following inverters, which follow an existing grid signal and export power into it.

Grid-forming equipment can adjust its power in response to grid frequency and, according to Richard, provide support if the grid is down. He said Sungrow is working on this direction across residential, commercial and utility-scale applications.

The speakers also discussed the possibility of government support for commercial batteries. Richard said a commercial battery rebate was being considered but had not been confirmed at the time of the interview.

The growing scale of commercial systems

Adrian described the rapid increase in the size of commercial rooftop systems. He said projects that were around 100 kW several years earlier are now reaching megawatt-scale solar generation and megawatt-hours of battery storage.

He said residential battery demand currently exceeds the available supply in the market, while commercial storage is beginning to accelerate. Both speakers expected commercial battery deployment to grow further over the next five years, although no specific forecast was provided.