The inverters developed by SMA Solar Technology in the PV Diesel funding project are used around the world for power storage projects.

The company has reported that it has doubled its overall sold output in the storage sector to 2 gigawatt. According to its own information, in 2019 alone it concluded contracts for the sale of one gigawatt of battery inverter output. One of SMA's developments in the PV Diesel research project completed in 2018 was the innovative battery inverter, which was tested on the island of Sint Eustatius - an important basis for the success now achieved. "PV Diesel came at exactly the right time", says Dr. Oliver Führer, who coordinates joint research activities at SMA. "Here we were able to prove for a large isolated network that our newly developed battery inverter with outputs in the megawatt range is capable of operating a power grid in a stable and safe manner."

Stable network with renewable energy sources

In the PV Diesel project, the partners, coordinated by SMA, developed the fundamentally required control procedures for the new system of battery storage system, photovoltaics and conventional generators. Even critical operating states of the power grid are covered by the methods. Sudden changes in network operation are considered critical: This includes for instance a major drop in frequency, which can be caused by the simultaneous failure of several power plants.

In the past, the conventional large power plants were responsible for grid stability. In the long term, this task must be taken over by renewable energy sources. The battery inverters therefore contribute to the worldwide transition to renewable energy sources.