Anker SOLIX brings the latest solar and storage solutions to RE+

PV Magazine had a online meeting with Shaun Xiong, Board Member and GM of Anker’s charging business before RE+ 2024, to discuss Anker SOLIX's new microinverters which are optimizing solar production and storage for homeowners. Their Editor is interested in Anker's benefits to the environment because Shaun also claims that the company is well on its way to achieving its goal of zero plastic packaging by 2027.

 

 

Xiong: The Anker SOLIX X1 Solar and Storage Solution marks our further development in the field of energy independence and reflects our firm commitment to the principles of Power Resilience and Most Accessible. To address Power Resilience, in extreme natural environments such as blizzards, rainstorms, high temperatures, and humidity, Anker's products can provide a stable energy supply without downtime or any significant performance degradation. At the same time, when the power grid fails, they can also provide immediate backup energy and offer long-term, high-power battery life to ensure the safety of home energy and easily cope with extreme situations.

 

To be Most Accessible, we have created a modular solution that can meet the energy needs of a variety of types of homowners, with battery capacity ranging from 5 kWh to 180 kWh and output power from 3 kW to 36 kW. Users can flexibly combine new batteries to work at their peak performance without being limited by the old ones. Additionally, through the modular deployment of the panels, even our portable power station (PPS) can be used both at home and outdoors, maximizing the efficiency of use. All in all, Anker SOLIX would like to help our customers in all different senarios and environments, by providing stable and reliable energy to ensure a worry-free life.

 

 

Xiong: In the face of increasingly frequent large-scale power outages caused by extreme weather or power grid system failures, Anker provides the most resilient and comprehensive whole-home backup power. Unlike many manufacturers that can only offer a single backup power solution, the X1 solution is compatible with the existing generators of Anker users, who can enjoy seamless multi-mode switching. At the same time, by accessing National Weather Service disaster information in the US, the system will automatically charge from photovoltaic and power grid sources at the maximum rate. A 10 kWh system can be fully charged in 2.68 hours to ensure electricity availability during disasters.

 

In the face of extreme temperatures, Anker is fully powered without any derating from -40° C to 65° C throughout the year, while the output performance of traditional solutions will decline after 45° C. This is mainly due to our better component selection and improved design for the distribution of the internal temperature, which provides better thermal redundancy. With extreme cold conditions, most energy storage systems will see their charging performance drop significantly or even become unable to charge at all. Thanks to the built-in thermal boosting technology of its battery pack, Anker SOLIX ensures the battery can charge and discharge normally at -20° C with 100% power.

 

Thanks to the newly released microinverter, the X1 offers stronger flexibility and endurance, enabling users to overcome shading problems and maximizing the utilization of roof space. Its advanced frequency shift and algorithmic control helps the solution support a ratio of installed PV rated output power to ESS rated output power of up to 300%. Traditional systems are typically limited to a ratio of 100% to 150%. With this capability, a user can create more powerful and flexible PV systems, optimize for low-light conditions, and scale up to six parallel energy storage units for a total capacity of 180 kWh.

 

 

Xiong: We support our partners by providing them with sales leads as well as professional support. For example, on the first day of the X1’s launch, we received 4,700 high quality leads directly from consumers and we fed these leads to our trusted installers.

 

We are also building an online system that offers them training and gives them a better understanding about the product and its installation. We have remote maintenance and diagnostic tools, so that our partners can easily figure out any issue – and if they can't, they can easily connect with our engineers, and we can help them together.

 

 

Xiong: Anker tries to make it easy for consumers to choose an ecofriendly product without compromising on quality or performance – whether it's with our solar and storage solutions or our IoT products. We have already announced that by 2027 we'll achieve zero plastic packaging, and we are currently on track for that. In 2022 alone, we lowered our plastic use by 33%, and we switched to soy ink for packaging printing.

 

We have launched our Bio-Based Cable, which uses corn and sugar cane for its exterior and reduces petroleum consumption by 30-40%. We also have a Bio-Braided Cable, for which 46% of the outer coating and the connector casing is made of bio-based nylon, and we've launched a Nano USB-C charger that is 70% smaller than the original size charger.