Huawei Digital Power Kenya has enhanced the safety of solar power systems for residential homes and commercial facilities by eliminating the possibility of incidences caused by lack of efficient diagnosis.
Speaking when he addressed the 2023 FusionSolar Eastern Africa Partner Summit in Nairobi, Oliver (Dupeng), CEO of Huawei Eastern Africa Digital Power Business explained that the move to ramp safety features in residential and commercial solar systems was in line with the Draft Energy (Solar Photovoltaic Systems) Regulations, 2020 drawn up by Kenya’s Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA).
The Summit themed, ‘Lighting Up a Greener Africa’, brought together more than 200 Huawei Digital Power channel partners to discuss the latest Huawei Smart PV solutions, Smart PV industry trends and innovations.
“Huawei has leveraged its over 30 years of experience in the ICT field to research, invent and manufacture leading Smart SOLAR PV solutions, a method we describe as ‘Building on the Past to Empower the Future. Unregulated temperatures typically lead to shorter solar lifespans and invariably results in overheating and exposes the systems to fire risk,” said Oliver.
To address the gap in the industry, the firm introduced a new range of Smart String ESS solutions, which include large batteries for the commercial and industrial sector, called the LUNA 200kWh, LUNA 1MWh, LUNA 2MWh, and Power-S. These provide more safety, longer product life, more usable energy, simplified operations and maintenance and provide independent battery racks and packs control, compared to Centralized ESS solutions.
The new system comes with a smart intelligent controller that regulates the temperature through air conditioning using inbuilt sensors and regulates the charging capacity of each battery so that all are able to obtain full charge and discharge fully
The release is also designed to meet growing demand for solar and power storage as electricity and fuel prices continue their upward trajectory. Oliver explained that the firm had witnessed an exponential growth in the demand for solar energy globally, across the African continent and even here in Kenya. In the first half of 2023, he noted that demand for solar was already at 20 percent higher compared to a similar time last year.
Huawei also launched its Power-S solution suitable for commercial and industrial scenarios such as malls, shops, restaurants, offices, factories, farms, hotels, campuses, banks, and gas stations. The Power-S is applicable for both off-grid and on-grid scenarios, single phase and three phase power connections, and provides flexible sizing from 5kwh to 600kwh.
Power-S provides seamless switchover, flexible sizing of loads, centralized monitoring and Operation and Maintenance (O&M), and all-in-one, easy and quick installation for indoor and outdoor application.
In order to deliver optimal performance, Huawei has added a smart controller, connected to mobile phone application which allows a homeowner to monitor the entire solar energy system remotely. “This includes issuing an alert whenever a single so
lar panel gets faulty or is even disconnected through theft,” said Oliver.
Among its several functionalities, the system also delivers a higher degree of safety for operations and maintenance teams by for instance using its Smart Module Controller to fully disconnect power on the solar panels to ensure installer and firefighter safety.
In addition, the firm signed the first Power-S consignment Agreement with its solar solutions distributor, Nabico Enterprises Limited, to kickstart Power-S roll out in the region.