Sharp Electronics Corp.’s Energy Systems and Services Group (Sharp) has announced that its SmartStorage system was selected as the primary energy storage system by Sunworks, a California and Nevada-based solar installer. The SmartStorage system is a lithium-ion based solution that uses predictive learning to reduce peak electricity consumption during demand spikes. Sunworks will implement SmartStorage products into upcoming commercial building projects, thereby allowing customers to benefit from peak energy and peak demand savings simultaneously.
“Sunworks is recognized in the industry for solar installations. By joining forces to offer their solar solutions plus our SmartStorage system, customers can optimize their energy usage,” says Carl Mansfield, general manager and founder of Sharp’s Energy Systems and Services Group. “Sharp’s customers are seeing the benefits of storage paired with solar, resulting in savings from peak demand charges. We’re happy to offer a hybrid solar plus storage solution that enables commercial property owners to shift more of their capital to operations instead of utility bills.”
Sunworks and Sharp expect an increase in the adoption of hybrid solar plus storage energy solutions, especially for projects that reside in areas facing peak demand rates in excess of $18/kW. With its California presence and direct access to Sharp’s zero-down financing program, Sunworks now plans to evaluate all of its commercial projects. For any site that demonstrates a strong economic benefit from a solar plus storage solution, Sunworks will install the SmartStorage system.
“We are seeing the market move toward energy storage,” says Jim Nelson, CEO of Sunworks. “This is an opportunity to grow our business and provide our customers with a storage solution that can deliver savings. We found that Sharp offered a great solution within the energy storage market and we plan to deploy the SmartStorage system to all of our commercial projects where the economics make sense.”
The SmartStorage system features Sharp’s analytics application that manages the release of energy from batteries at the precise time it’s needed to avoid demand charges. As an option for all SmartStorage system installations, Sharp offers a 10-Year Asset Management Service Agreement coupled with a 10-Year Performance Guarantee that includes routine and unscheduled maintenance. If guaranteed peak demand reductions are not met, Sharp will compensate for the deficit in promised peak demand reductions.