OutBack Power Debuts Energy Platform Breakthrough, SkyBox, During Intersolar Europe 2016
OutBack Power Technologies, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of advanced power electronics for renewable energy, backup power and mobile applications, will launch new additions to its line of renewable energy products at the 2016 Intersolar Europe conference June 22 to 24 at the International Congress Center in Munich, Germany. The company’s energy storage and management solutions – leading with the new 230V SkyBox– will help European solar installers and users meet the challenge of integrating renewable energy generation with storage.
The perfect power platform for the European market, SkyBox is a breakthrough in the field of advanced power conversion, processing and control.“SkyBox gives users more value for their renewable energy investment —both up-front through simplified design and installation, and, over the long-term, through the ability to ‘see’ a higher return on that investment through greater control over how they make, store and manage their energy,” explained Drew Zogby, president of Alpha Technologies (OutBack’s parent company). “Breakthroughs such as SkyBox truly demonstrate how our proven ‘mastery of the off-grid’ translates into not only being the ‘first choice for the new grid’ but in some cases the only choice—in our booth at InterSolar we’ll be exhibiting capabilities that no other single brand can currently offer.”
For solar professionals, OutBack expects SkyBox to revolutionize the process of designing and installing PV/solar systems with energy storage. “We asked leading solar installers to imagine their ‘wish list’ for the perfect power conversion platform ahead of developing SkyBox,” said Steve Karaffa, senior vice-president/energy & industrial for the Alpha Group. “Based on their input, we re-invented the concept using all-new digital technology to create an all-in-one unit with superior efficiency and features for end-users, while reducing installation time, cost and complexity for installers—and in a compact form-factor engineered for quiet, trouble-free operation.”
Continued Karaffa, “Our unique SkyBox architecture will save installers time and increase system owner satisfaction. Most important, SkyBox provides system designers with unprecedented flexibility—they can literally install now, figure out energy storage later. SkyBox is flexible and intelligent enough to work with current and future energy storage technologies and configurations, and can even be commissioned and operated prior to battery installation.”OutBack’s new FLEXmax Ultra 300V charge controller continues the trend of making system operation simpler for installers. It also reduces system installation time, cost and complexity, with key safety features such as arc-fault and ground-fault built-in. The higher power rating also making it possible to design systems with longer solar panel “strings” with fewer components.
Enhancements were also made to OutBack’s trusted OPTICS control and monitoring technology, which provides sophisticated energy flow metrics at-a-glance. The enhancements include the addition of solar “fleet” management for users with multiple systems, in campus or micro-grid applications. All of OutBack’s innovations are designed with residential energy independence in mind, providing homeowners and installers with reliable, “future-proof” technology to ensure a high return on investment regardless of changing regulatory policies and energy scenarios.
