From large corporations to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), energy stability is crucial for productivity and growth. Industry leaders in Africa are gearing up for a green energy transition. Low-carbon energy solutions are becoming essential for increasing productivity and reducing costs.
Sub-Saharan Africa experiences an average of five hours of power outages daily. In contrast, South Asia faces about two hours of outages, while high-income countries experience less than an hour daily. This disparity severely impacts productivity and manufacturing in Africa, as well as long-term job security in a continent already grappling with high unemployment rates.
Understanding this challenge, Huawei Digital Power South Africa has stepped in to provide innovative photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage solutions (ESS). Muzakkir Sonday, C&I Solutions Architect at Huawei, says, “We understand the predicament of business leaders on the continent. As an innovator in PV and ESS, we offer industry-leading products to help companies meet their targets and stay ahead of competitors.”
Huawei introduced its commercial and industrial (C&I) smart PV and battery energy storage solutions (BESS) to the African market, keeping the future of energy in mind. The Model LUNA2000 200kWh-2H1 is a high-capacity smart-string BESS that delivers superior performance and can be scaled up to 4,000kWh. Sonday adds, “Our C&I smart PV solution is an integrated solution for PV, BESS, optimizer, and cloud management. It puts businesses in control by providing a one-stop solution for all scenarios and load ranges.”
Studies in South Africa indicate that advancing renewable energy capacity, along with energy storage and efficiency-promoting solutions, are the most appropriate pathways to enabling economic growth. Huawei’s solutions reliably provide scalable energy solutions so African businesses can unlock this growth.
Safety and reliability are at the core of Huawei’s PV and ESS systems. These solutions are designed to ensure energy stability while simplifying operations and maintenance (O&M). Businesses of all sizes and from various industries can easily integrate these solutions into their ecosystems.
The ESS’s energy storage components undergo eight months of rigorous testing to ensure high-quality battery cells are used. They reliably work at altitudes of up to 4,000 meters. Artificial intelligence (AI)-based optical storage optimization increases revenue by 10%. Reliability is further enhanced through pack-level optimization, promoting balanced charging and discharging, which prolongs the battery system’s lifespan.
The Model LUNA2000 200 kWh-2H1 is ideal for farms, office parks, petrol stations, factories, or banks that need versatile power solutions. “Businesses in Africa can take advantage of the system’s renewable energy integration – it can store grid, solar, or wind-generated excess energy and deliver it when needed,” explains Sonday.
For larger-scale solar energy applications, Huawei’s smart optimizer Model MERC-1100/1300W-P ensures that solar modules operate at an efficiency of 99.5%, maximizing solar module yield. The system’s backup power supply capabilities also help businesses ensure continuous operations during outages.
Inverters are the neural centers of PV systems because they determine energy generation, efficiency, and safety. Huawei’s C&I offerings include the ESS system Model LUNA2000 200 kWh-2H1, the newly launched SUN2000-150K and SUN5000-150K inverters, and PV Optimizers. Together, these products create a solution that provides a consistent energy supply, which can be used alongside energy grids to support load shifting and respond to varying energy demands.
These all-round high-powered inverters, developed on an all-new V6 platform, produce a maximum power output of 165kW and reach a maximum efficiency of 98.8%. They are equipped with safety features like active disconnect, and like the rest of Huawei’s C&I solutions, these inverters are designed with reliability, simplified O&M, optimal BOS, and grid adaptability in mind. The integrated solution with the Smart String PV inverters and ESS systems allows for uninterrupted power in remote regions or cities with unreliable power, thus bringing productivity to the most rural areas.
