Revolutionizing Home Energy with Plug & Play Solar Panels and Integrated Battery Storage

Read time: 5 minutes

Hi all!

Welcome to issue #3 of Future Powered, where we showcase innovative products and services to make your home smarter and more energy efficient. We cover everything from smart appliances and devices to solar panels, heating, EV chargers and more.

Let’s dive in.

SolMate by EET

Brief Overview

SolMate is the first photovoltaic system with battery storage that connects directly to the power socket.

SolMate unique features

SolMate sets itself apart with these key features:

1. Simple and DIY installation - This PV system can be installed in your balcony railing, without any construction work or technicians. It’s then connected to the battery system by cable, which will then be plugged into a standard wall socket.

2. Smart energy management - Through their patented measurement technology, SolMate can identify if you’re using electricity at home, so it only emits electricity to your home when you actually need. The rest is kept stored in the battery, ensuring that you don’t have to feed electricity back to the grid.

3. Monitoring app - Through the MySolMate’s app, you can track the system’s operation and flow of energy.

Who are the competitors?

Some competitors that have photovoltaic systems that connect directly to the power socket are starting to appear.

We Do Solar and Supersola are good examples of startups that have developed plug & play solar panels. However, none of them have an integrated battery system, and that’s what sets SolMate apart.

The bigger picture

According to the International Energy Agency, approximately 100 million households will be powered by solar panels by 2030.

However, there are still some barriers that are stopping exponential growth. One of them is the installation and upfront costs of PV systems, which can be significant. Installing on rooftops can also be limiting, as there’s often not enough space or conditions to install the panels there. Lastly, feed-in tariffs are often not attractive enough to make producers interested in selling electricity back to the grid.

SolMate is tackling these barriers through:

1. Eliminating installation costs, as it can be installed by anyone;

2. Improving the issues related with space or conditions to install the panels in the rooftop, by enabling the installation in the balconies;

3. Eliminating the need to sell electricity back to the grid, by storing the electricity in the battery system and only using it when there’s a need in the house.

EET claims that SolMate can produce up to 25% of your electricity needs and saves about 6700 kg CO2.

While there’s still room for improvement (for example, reducing or eliminating upfront costs, use more efficient PV panels and batteries), the advantages that SolMate offers are significant and present an improvement to the competitors.

Price and availability

SolMate is currently available in Germany, Austria and Italy, with prices starting at around 2500€, depending on the the capacity of the panels.

They are currently preparing scale up efforts and expansion all over Europe, including France, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic and Poland.

About EET

EET is an Austrian startup founded in 2017 by three graduates of Graz University of Technology - Florian, Stephan and Christoph. They realised that the purchase of a solar system with battery, PV panels and inverter was too expensive and not adequate for city dwellers, so they decided to make SolMate.

Since then, the company has grown to over 50 employees and has sold over 10.000 units of their systems.

That’s all for today.

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