Compact solar storage for businesses

This solution makes it more convenient for commercial sites to switch to green energy

Spotted: On-site solar energy is becoming increasingly attractive to businesses wanting to reduce their carbon footprint, lower energy costs, and improve energy resiliency. One challenge, however, is the need to store energy produced during the day for use at night or during bad weather. Common storage systems for large buildings are often expensive and take up a lot of space.

Instead, Yotta Energy has come up with a solution that uses ‘panel level’ storage. Called SolarLeaf, these storage units have a capacity of one kilowatt-hour and only weigh around 50 pounds. Each unit is around the size of a briefcase and is designed to fit seamlessly under a standard solar PV module, using the same racking hardware.

Giving every panel its own battery saves on building space and makes it easy to expand the system. The company also provides smart monitoring software to maintain a constant flow of power, and each SolarLeaf comes with a passive cooling capability, to maximise the performance and life of the battery.

The company has also developed a native three-phase microinverter, which converts the electricity generated by the panels into a form that can be used in the building. This has been designed to work in harmony with the battery, with the two components developed in lockstep with each other, to ensure they’re perfectly integrated.

Recently, Yotta partnered up with energy management company Energy Toolbase to create an integrated offering that combines Yotta’s SolarLeaf with Energy Toolbase’s Acumen EMS software to make the deployment of large-scale commercial projects even easier and more efficient.

Written By: Lisa Magloff