Following Tesla Motors, Inc.’s announcement of its Powerwall battery storage solution for homes, Westbrook, Maine-based Pika Energy, Inc. has unveiled details around a forthcoming product that would directly integrate with Tesla’s Powerwall batteries.
Tesla says its Powerwall batteries will give homes an economical energy advantage, providing storage capability during peak hours of solar power production, which can be tapped in the evening when energy demands for most homes is highest.
In an expansion of Pika Energy’s existing product line including the X3001 bi-directional Inverter and B801 Battery Charge Controller, Pika’s forthcoming product is a 7.5 kW grid-tie inverter with islanding capabilities. Codenamed “Ursa,” the new inverter will provide an all-in-one solution for homes to harvest power from wind turbines, solar arrays and other sources of clean power. It will allow homes to use energy they’re producing, store that energy in batteries like Tesla’s Powerwall solution, or sell energy back to the grid.
Pika’s existing and forthcoming power electronics are an ideal match for emerging energy storage solutions. Unlike existing products that operate at 48V or below and suffer from low efficiency, Pika’s REbus™ microgrid solution operates at 380VDC for lower cost, higher performance, and improved ease of installation.
Homes that use Pika Energy’s wind and solar hybrid systems in concert with batteries like Tesla’s Powerwall will have an optimal solution to use, manage and store clean power economically and efficiently.
“Tesla’s announcement of an affordable battery solution for homes is an exciting development in the home energy industry,” said Pika Energy President Ben Polito. “It highlights the need for intelligent, bi-directional inverter solutions, and Pika Energy’s inverter products fill that gap.. Our microgrid product suite perfectly complements high performance batteries with affordable, smart electronics to capture and manage clean energy to power our homes.”