South Korean battery maker LG Chem has released its new generation systems in Australia, promising they will offer more choice, and be cheaper, smaller, lighter, and with improved aesthetics.
LG Chem, which claims nearly half of the nascent but rapidly growing Australian grid-connected market, is offering low voltage and high voltage options to Australian households, with its new battery storage systems ranging from a stackable 3.3kWh lithium-ion system to a 9.8kWh system.
The three low-voltage battery systems (48 volt) are being offered in 3.3kWh, 6.5kWh and 9.9kWh units, while 7kWh and 9.8kWh high voltage (400 volt) battery systems are also being offered.
The new series of battery storage systems will be offered globally but will be launched in Australia, where LG Chem sees a massive opportunity, particularly with the ending of the premium feed-in tariffs in some states at the end of the year.
“We think that at the end of this year, it will take off very sharply,” said the company’s Australian Business Development Manager, Changhwan Choi.
“There is a massive sustainability potential that is yet to be unlocked if Australia wants to be 100 per cent powered by renewable energy.”
LG Chem says its battery storage systems are pitched at households that want to store the output of their solar systems for use in the evening, minimising the amount of solar energy that is sent back to the grid, and which no longer attract significant tariffs.
Choi says prices for the new systems will be revealed when they are available at the end of August, but he says that costs are falling by 10-15 per cent a year, as manufacturers increase volumes, and the boost from the electric vehicle market.
© 2016 Solar Choice Pty Ltd
