Sonnen has released sonnenCore, a cost-effective, all-in-one home battery solution. Germany-headquartered sonnen, a subsidiary of Shell, is a global market leader in smart residential energy storage and virtual power plants.
sonnenCore provides customers with access to reliable emergency backup power, and it switches so fast that you or your appliances won’t even notice, at around 0.4 seconds. It features remote app control and round-the-clock access to stored solar with an easy-to-install, competitively priced system. It can also be used with the regular grid (although, of course, we at Electrek advocate for solar).
The system is equipped with 4.8kW/10kWh of maximum usable capacity and pairs with new and existing photovoltaic systems. It uses long-lasting, cobalt-free, recyclable, safe lithium iron phosphate batteries and has a warranty of 10 years/10,000 charge cycles. sonnenCore costs $9,500, excluding installation, and is available now.
The compact, all-in-one, modular configuration allows for simplified site design and installation, making it a cost-effective home battery option for residential projects, including solar retrofits.
Adam Gentner, sonnen’s VP of premium products and projects, explained to Electrek what’s unique about this new home battery solution:
With sonnen’s 10 years of experience in the residential energy storage space, we are confident that this technology is uniquely suited for use in the home over decades of use.
On the platform of this battery chemistry, sonnen has completely designed our own module, BMS, inverter, and controller, making sonnenCore one of the first, if not the only, batteries on the market completely designed by one company so that all components work seamlessly together.
This allows us to exercise a greater control over every component in the system, to update any part of the battery to meet the future needs of our customers, and to truly maximize the value that our customers get out of this battery.
As such, the sonnenCore is one of the most attractively priced batteries, and certainly the most attractively priced lithium iron phosphate battery, on the market.
Electrek’s Take
Looks like sonnenCore is going to give Tesla Powerwall (it’s slightly smaller than the Powerwall, which holds 13.5kWh), LG Chem, and Enphase some competition. The Powerwall is cheaper than the sonnenCore at $7,000, but as Electrek‘s Fred Lambert pointed out in October, with the accompanying hardware and installation, the Powerwall’s price goes up. sonnenCore will also have installation costs.
With natural disasters such as wildfires and hurricanes becoming more intense and challenging the power grid’s reliability, public demand for affordable home battery systems on solar is only going to grow. According to a study from residential solar and battery storage company Sunrun, 45% of American homeowners say backup power like a battery or generator would have made them feel more prepared. So sonnenCore should do well.
Photos: sonnen
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