SolarEdge Technologies is launching a solution for grid services and virtual power plants to support a shared energy economy.

SolarEdge’s grid services offer total control and data reporting allowing the pooling of PV and storage in the cloud for the creation of virtual power plants. The solution will provide utilities with the tools to use distributed energy generation systems to meet demand more effectively. Energy retailers will enjoy protection from price peaks and PV system owners can increase their revenue from joining this new energy economy.

“With the continued evolution in PV and storage, renewable energy can be affordable and abundant. We are moving closer to the day when everyone will produce, store, and sell their own energy,” says SolarEdge chief executive Guy Sella.

“Our grid services aim to accelerate the transition to a more stable and cost-effective grids in which people have more control over their energy.”

“Implementing a new model of energy generation requires simultaneous advancements at the hardware, system, and network levels. Our HD-Wave inverter made PV more energy-efficient and cost effective. At the system level, our inverters synchronize energy production, usage, and storage to create a seamless user experience with our monitoring platform,” says SolarEdge marketing and product strategy VP Lior Handelsman.

“Now at the network level, our grid services enable the aggregation and synchronization of multiple PV systems to create a distributed network. This is an important milestone in making solar energy ubiquitous.”

The solution helps to resolve a variety of complex energy issues along with providing energy retailers protection against price peaks by facilitating access to stored energy.

As PV markets evolve from feed-in tariffs to net-metering and finally to self-consumption, the grid services will provide homeowners with the opportunity to maximise self-consumption and take advantage of time-of-use tariffs as a revenue stream.