Ideal Power Inc., a developer of a disruptive power conversion technology, announced it has won the electrical energy storage AWARD for its 30 kW Hybrid PV Storage Converter.
Selected from among top global leaders in the solar and energy storage industry, Ideal Power received its award on June 4 during a ceremony at Intersolar Europe in Munich, Germany, the worlds largest exhibition for the solar industry. Ideal Power will present additional information on its award-winning product at Intersolar North America, July 7-9, in San Francisco.
"We believe that the future of the multi-billion dollar solar industry lies with combining it with energy storage, and our Hybrid Converter product has been recognized among many top innovators from around the world as a key innovation to enable this cost-effective integration," said Paul Bundschuh, President and Chief Commercial Officer of Ideal Power. "We are honored and delighted to receive this award, which we feel validates the potential of our technology to facilitate widespread adoption of solar storage solutions. Our goal is to become the de facto industry standard for this application."
The assessment criteria used by the panel of industry expert judges examined the degree of technological innovation, the benefit for solar industry, the environment and society, the economic viability of the solution and proof of its innovative quality.
"Cost-effective integration of energy storage is now one of the greatest challenges faced by the solar industry," said Dr. Andreas Gutsch, Coordinator Competence E, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). "This year, around 3,500 companies from Intersolar exhibitions around the world and the electrical energy storage exhibition were invited to submit their innovations. Ideal Powers technology stood out because of its ability to combine PV and battery systems with an efficiency level of up to 97 percent. It also provides modular flexibility for different applications, particularly in off-grid systems."
Ideal Power's hybrid converter is the first 3-port product to leverage the Companys Power Packet Switching ArchitectureTM (PPSA), which allows it to combine PV inverter capabilities on one DC port, bi-directional battery converter capabilities on the second DC port, and provide an AC port supporting both grid-tied and off-grid applications. It can accomplish these functions with only a modest increase in product size and weight over its established 2-port battery converter and PV inverter products and with no loss of system efficiency. Conventional technology solutions to hybrid power conversion systems combining PV and storage require multiple power conversion steps, thereby reducing efficiency, and multiple power converter units, increasing size, weight and cost.
