SolarEdge Opens 2GWh New Battery Cell Facility in South Korea

By Saur News Bureau/ Updated On Fri, May 27th, 2022

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SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (“SolarEdge”), the Israel-based inverter major and SolarEdge’s subsidiary, Kokam Limited Company, a provider of lithium-ion batteries and integrated energy storage solutions, have announced the opening of “Sella 2”, a two gigawatt-hour (GWh) battery cell manufacturing facility. Located in the Eumseong Innovation City of Chungbuk, South Korea, Sella 2 is currently producing test cells for certification, with ramp-up expected during the second half of 2022. The move comes even as almost every major inverter major is expanding its portfolio to include both storage inverters and batteries.

Once ramped, Sella 2 will enable SolarEdge to have its own supply of lithium-ion batteries and the infrastructure to develop new battery cell chemistries and technologies. The facility is planned to manufacture battery cells for SolarEdge’s residential solar-attached batteries as well as battery cells for a variety of industries, including mobile applications, energy stationary storage solutions (ESS) and UPS applications. The facility can scale its battery cell capacity in the future to support the growing needs for storage solutions offered by the company.

Zvi Lando, Chief Executive Officer of SolarEdge, commented: “The opening of Sella 2 is an important milestone for SolarEdge. It allows us to own key processes in the development and manufacturing of advanced energy storage solutions for our solar core business and additional applications, while further securing the resilience of our supply chain. We are committed to growing our business in the energy storage market, as well as our investment in battery cell technology and cell manufacturing, further strengthening our storage product portfolio.”

For the Q1 or Jan-March quarter this year, SolarEdge has had a strong start, with record revenues of approximately $655 million, more than $100 million over our previous record revenues achieved last quarter.

Revenues from its solar business were at a record high of $608 million, while revenues from our non solar business were $47 million. During the quarter, SolarEdge shipped 5.7 million power optimizers and 211,000 inverters, an increase of 600,000 and 14,000 units, respectively, from last quarter. It’s solar business grew quarter over quarter by 21%, driven by growth in all segments and geographies, including record quarterly revenues in the United States and 14 European countries, including the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K. The firm has a limited presence outside the developed markets, owing to its premium pricing and positioning that has made it one of the most valuable inverter firms worldwide.