Fronius establishes subsidiary in Greece – main focus on repowering

07/29/2016 | Print view

Fronius sees repowering and new installations through net-metering and self-consumption as good business opportunities in Greece. - © Fronius International — © Fronius International

Fronius sees repowering and new installations through net-metering and self-consumption as good business opportunities in Greece.

Fronius Solar Energy Division established a subsidiary in Greece. The Austrian inverter manufacturer sees a huge market for Repowering and also a great potential for residential self-consumption.

Beginning of July the 19th subsidiary of the Fronius Solar Energy Division opened its doors for the first time in Thessaloniki “Until 2012, Greece was a major photovoltaics market,” explains Area Sales Manager Hannes Wendeler. “Some of these PV systems are now coming out of warranty, and many of the inverter manufacturers from those days are no longer in business or do not offer any technical support services. This is a huge opportunity for the Repowering service from Fronius,” continues Wendeler.

Repowering as efficient solution

Repowering is an efficient solution for the modernisation of a PV system, the Austrian based company claims. “Old inverters, including those from other manufacturers, are simply replaced with Fronius units, both increasing the performance of the PV system and bringing it up to date with the very latest technology too.” A new inverter costs the same or often less than having the device serviced according to the company. “We reckon that a significant amount of our business will be generated through Repowering,” says Wendeler. “Owners of photovoltaic systems with inverters from manufacturers who no longer exist or who no longer offer a technical support service stand to benefit from our solutions”, he adds.

Quicker turnaround times

He sees demand in Greece primarily for the single-phase Fronius Primo1 in the residential sector and the three-phase Fronius Symo2 inverters in the commercial sector. “Our objective is clear: we want to be the market leader in Greece. To achieve our goals, we are actively targeting project developers and providing the service and support that’s needed”, Wendeler says. “A stock of replacement units allows Fronius Greece to act extremely quickly, leaving system owners to enjoy lower transport costs and quicker turnaround times”, he reports. Fronius Greece is also responsible for customers in the Republic of Cyprus.

Market growth through net-metering and self-consumption

Feed-in tariffs, which at one time were heavily over-subsidised, have since been cut to 6 cents per kilowatt hour. Self-consumption was made legal in Greece in summer 2015 and a net metering programme was launched. This is another area in which Fronius sees a great deal of potential for the future solar market growth in Greece. (HCN)