Kohler Power Reserve
The Kohler Power Reserve is a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) based energy storage system that includes an inverter to work with any AC-coupled or DC-coupled system.
Are you assuming Kohler Power just means ICE’s and gensets? Make no mistake, William Schnell, Senior Product Manager-Residential Energy, Kohler Power, explains why this is not the case.
Let’s start at the beginning: what is Power Reserve and how does it work?
The Kohler Power Reserve is a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) based energy storage system that includes an inverter to work with any AC-coupled or DC-coupled system. The energy storage system will take excess electricity, typically from solar panels installed on the home, and store the electricity generated in a lithium ion battery to be used by the home later. This stored energy can be used at night when the sun is down, during certain times when electricity rates are high, or when the power goes out.
Storage systems are going to became more and more strategic for any application, on road, industrial and automation too. Does writing “storage” really mean reading “lithium”?
Today, most storage applications do use a form of lithium-ion batteries. There are two primary battery chemistries used in lithium-ion batteries for energy storage. NMC (Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide) and LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) are the two chemistries you most often find on the market. LFP batteries tend to have a longer life and better discharge capacity. There continues to be extensive development globally on various energy storage and battery types. We continue to monitor these developments and are continuously evaluating the right storage type for various applications.
Is this type of energy storage only for solar panels or other renewable energy sources like wind?
The primary application for the Kohler Power Reserve is for use with solar panels. Integration with other renewable sources would be dependent on the technical information of a specific application. We would recommend reviewing all applications with a certified Kohler dealer to determine the best system fit.
Is Kohler Power Reserve thus able to store energy in the MW range as well? Is it also suitable to installations like smart grids, if so?
The maximum energy able to be stored by the Kohler Power Reserve is 20kWh and is meant for residential applications. Kohler Co. continues to evaluate new markets to expand into including industrial applications.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON PAGE 16 OF POWERTRAIN – DECEMBER ISSUE
