Natural Solar seals $90m distribution deal with German battery maker Sonnen

Natural Solar, Australia’s largest solar and battery installer has closed a $90m distribution deal with Sonnen – the world’s largest producer of battery storage systems – to enter the Philippines and Malaysia – the fastest growing renewable energy markets in the world.

Over the next two years, more than 10,000 combined solar and battery storage systems are expected to be installed in these countries.

The move is a coup for Natural Solar and Sonnen and the whole global renewable energy markets.

In the Philippines and Malaysia, solar market growth has experienced between 200-300 per cent year-on-year growth during the last two years.

And that figure is expected to increase sharply in these countries which have tremendous potential for residential energy storage.

With an increasing energy demand that is being driven by a thriving economy and a growing population, there is going to be even greater need for grid reliability which has been an issue for homeowners in the past.

There will be two different versions of Sonnen’s batteries on offer – the sonnenBatterie Eco and the sonnenBatterie Compact.

The sonnenBatterie is designed for providing self-consumption and backup power.

This US-manufactured and German-engineered battery offers full-scale backup power of up to 8 kW.

Backup is a key feature that will attract many customers especially since areas within the Philippines are reporting daily brownouts without any relief in sight.

The other version, sonnenBatterie Compact, will be offered with a capacity of 5 kWh with the ability to combine a maximum amount of self-consumption with attractive pricing.

With the offer of solar energy, it minimises power costs in the Philippines which are among the highest in Asia.

“Sonnen always aims to offer clean affordable energy for all, that is our mission. Thus we are happy to announce also a lower budget version of our sonnenBatterie that aims at the average home in the Philippines and Malaysia, which often suffers daily grid failures”, says Philipp Schröder, Managing Director and Chief Sales & Marketing Officer.

“The product will beat most other storage systems in price and will be available in the market of the Philippines and Malaysia by the end of March 2018.”

Natural Solar CEO and founder Chris Williams said: “The potential for the high-end sonnenBatterie as well as the new sonnenBatterie Compact are huge.

“The Philippines alone inhabit a population of 100 million people and a booming housing sector,”Mr Williams said.

“We aim to supply over 100.000 systems over the next 5 years and believe this has the potential to surpass the market size of Australia within the next 24 months.”

This isn’t the first time Sonnen has linked up with Natural Solar.

The companies announced a partnership back in July to introduce SonnenFlat – a new system that will dramatically reduce energy costs for Australian households.