* Quandt-backed Solarwatt eyes top 5 spot in home energy
storage
* Integration device aimed at hooking customers to one brand
* Manager Flex to go on sale at around 500 euros
By Vera Eckert
FRANKFURT, July 7 (Reuters) - Germany's Solarwatt, backed by
BMW's billionaire shareholder Stefan Quandt, plans to launch a
small module that lets homeowners link rooftop solar panels to
power storage batteries and electric vehicles to cut costs.
The wallbox allows home owners to control when and how much
home-produced photovoltaics (PV) power they store, use to charge
their electric vehicles (EVs), or sell to the grid.
The move takes aim at Shell-owned sonnen, China's
BYD , Germany's E3/DC, EnBW's
Senec, LG Chem, Varta and Tesla,
which EuPD Research says dominate the home storage market.
"The energy manager is the brain of the home," Peter
Bachmann, Solarwatt's Vice President Customer Solutions, told
Reuters ahead of a launch planned for Wednesday.
"It distributes the power from the roof intelligently."
The Manager Flex device, which looks like a wifi router and
will go on sale at around 500 euros ($594), allows the
integration of energy flows and gadgets at home, such as rooftop
panels, batteries, electric heat pumps and EV-charging boxes.
It follows a home storage battery deal with BMW
last month, and Solarwatt, also active in France, Italy, Spain,
the Netherlands, Britain and Australia, aims to be a top five
player by the end of 2022, Bachmann said.
By bringing the power and car sectors closer, Quandt, who
owns nearly half of BMW with his sister Susanne Klatten, is
taking a page from Tesla's strategy book, with products ranging
from solar roof installations to cars.
"We are showing that we have a holistic way of thinking in
our DNA," Quandt, who owns a majority of Solarwatt, said last
month.
Germany is an obvious starting point. With 300,000
stationary batteries, it is the world's top home storage market,
ahead of the United States, Japan and Australia.
Germany's battery market has grown tenfold since 2015 and is
set for 60% growth this year, fuelled by its 16 million house
owners, of which two million operate solar panels.
Energy components and management systems in the home must be
digitally linked to allow customers to monitor production, usage
and prices, and to engage with the grid.
Heating and cooling suppliers such as Viessmann or solar
inverter maker SMA are also active, developing
steering devices and drawing customers into virtual communities.
"The decisive factor will be who gets to supply the entire
household system from photovoltaics to storage batteries and
(EV) wall boxes," said Andreas Radics, partner at Berylls
Strategy Advisors.
Currently, it costs 7 euro cents to produce a kilowatt hour
(kWh) of solar power in Germany, a fifth of grid power.
A household installing panels for generation, an electric
heat pump to replace oil or gas boilers, and buying an EV
instead of a petrol-based car can cut its CO2 emissions by 89%,
it said.
That is if you can afford it.
A PV and battery system together may cost around 15,000
euros, an electric heating system another 10,000 euros, and an
electric car 30,000-40,000 euros, although savvy buyers can make
use of state support programmes to almost halve the bills.
For those not responding to incentives, Berlin has
introduced punitive legislation such as a new CO2 tax on heat
and car fuels as EV car registrations passed the 1 million mark
this week, with up to 10 million expected by 2030.
"The ramp-up of EV sales will directly induce a
corresponding run on smart energy products in the household
sphere," said PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Steffen Apfel.
Sonnen's CEO Oliver Koch said EVs are driving demand for the
company's PV systems and batteries: "A third of buyers (of those
segments) add a charging device for their EV," he said.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
Manufacturers, meantime, are eyeing the household sector
because of technological dynamics that bring synergy between
stationary and EV batteries, but more importantly because that's
where their customers are.
Like rivals Volkswagen and Daimler,
BMW faces a loss of revenues tied to combustion engines, forcing
it to scout for new areas of future profitability.
EV makers have started exploring links between EVs and home
power circuits, to morph home and car electricity into one, and
between EVs and grids, to offer stability services and recycle
used batteries.
It is in their interest that wall boxes are supplied with
solar power, as this supports the EV's green footprint.
If they were filled up from public grids, EVs would
necessarily have to absorb a current share of 50% fossil and
nuclear fuels.
"(Germany's) 10 million EVs target can only be achieved if
the industry can make the customer a sustainable offer," a BMW
spokesperson said.
($1 = 0.8412 euros)
(Editing by David Evans)
