In this special edition of Contractor’s Corner, longtime photovoltaic panel manufacturer Jinko Solar discusses why the company has entered the storage market. Adam Detrick, U.S. director of product management and technical services at Jinko Solar, talks about how Jinko is standing out in a crowded storage market and the company reaching a major milestone in panel sales.
Below is a portion of the company’s Solar Spotlight podcast with Solar Power World, but be sure to listen to the full episode here or on your favorite podcast app.
Jinko just announced that it was the first module supplier in the world to deliver 100 GW. What does Jinko attribute to this broad success in the market?
Jinko’s core mission and vision in the U.S. market, or the global market really, is to be the most trusted supplier. We have a very solid track record on execution, customer service and customer support, and I think that’s why people keep coming back to Jinko over the years. We deliver what we say we’re going to deliver, and that covers everything from on-time delivery to the reliability of the products, the products perform the way that we say they are and we are a very robust customer service organization. All of which can be attributed to just very high customer satisfaction overall and Jinko’s success.
With all the success in solar, why the decision to start offering a residential storage system?
Residential storage and solar go together very nicely, for a number of reasons. With the global, and especially in the U.S., migration to work from home has really escalated the importance of grid stability and energy independence for homeowners. People are much more dependent on their homes for their work, and so having stable energy has become much more critical than it has in the past.
What differentiates Jinko from the myriad of other residential storage offerings in these spaces?
It is a very crowded field in one way, and then not in another. Number one, Jinko at a corporate level has a very high commitment to storage in general. We foster very good supply chain relationships, so we have a supply of the key components. One of the big issues out there right now is commodity constraints on a variety of materials that go into the storage systems.
We really wanted to focus in on a single SKU. We have one system. It’s a DC-coupled system and we decided to do that because we really believe that it’s the best economic solution and the best value for the homeowner to combine the solar and storage as a DC-coupled system because you get the synergies of the shared inverter and it keeps the balance of system component costs down. Another aspect of the system is its larger capacity than most of the competitors. We’re starting with a 26.2 kWh system. This goes back into the higher reliance on stable grid power for people working from home, utility prices are increasing, grid stability’s becoming less of a sure thing. So having a higher capacity system that can keep people running longer is more and more important.
What should installers and homeowners care about when purchasing a storage system?
Ultimately, as with most things, reliability would probably be number one. I would say strong customer support, what I just mentioned, is really a key aspect. It’s not only looking at the specifications of the system on paper — does this match the customer’s load profile and their energy usage? But is there a support network there if there’s questions or if something doesn’t come together as expected throughout the installation process or if there’s confusion about how the application works.
We want to ensure that the homeowner has a really strong support network that’s consistent with Jinko’s mission and vision of being the most trusted supplier.
Does Jinko only offer storage systems for the residential market?
No, this year Jinko’s also introducing the Eagle CS Storage System, which is geared toward commercial, C&I and utility applications. The Eagle CS is a fully integrated, scalable, turnkey AC-coupled energy storage system. We offer one to four-hour battery duration, which can be configured for both C&I and utility applications. Jinko wants to bring the same level of high customer satisfaction and serviceability to commercial and utility storage as we do for residential solar and storage.
This podcast is sponsored by Jinko Solar
Once again, the Chinese put together a “package” that slaps around the competition in the smart ESS, small micro-grid market. The U.S. had better get their supply chain in order for U.S. based manufacturing or get spanked every time the U.S. tries to compete with China at any manufacturing process.