That the installers grow with the wishes of their customers. This is what we already know. But now you offer inverters, which can do the same. What is this all about?
Frank Henn: There are two topics I would like to point out. First topic is we increased the maximum power in the same housing. For the previous version, we ended up with 10 kW. Now we are at 20 kW in the same size.
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That's the first point. And the second one?
The second point is each device can get an upgrade in output power. When you buy the product, you have two steps to increase the power. Let's say you have the medium version, you get it with 8.5 kW. You can upgrade it to 10 or 12.5 kW, so you have a lot of flexibility.
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So the upgrade is already included?
Of course, it is included, yes.
What I learned, too, is that's not only a string inverter. It might be a hybrid inverter or battery inverter, too. Is it a universal genius?
Yes, indeed. Our philosophy is that we make our installers as productive as possible. When they receive the product, it is always configured as a solar inverter, and they have the choice before installation to convert it into a hybrid inverter or into a pure battery inverter. To do that, they have to get into our web shop and buy some activation codes.
You don't have to screw somewhere to get the upgrade. You just have to get a code to activate it?
Absolutely. That is a completely digital process. You get connected with your mobile phone with the inverter, and select what you like to have, push the button, and then it gets transferred the new settings into the inverter.
At least one device fits all?
Yes. And it is made in Germany, the factory is located in Germany.
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You took a lot of money into your hand at Kostal Solar Electric. What's the strategy behind it?
We think that we can be very competitive in Germany, also with production in Germany. Kostal Solar Electric is embedded in the Kostal Automotive Group, where we have a lot of high professional automatism processes and so on. The big advantage is we have our R&D team and production side by side, which gives a very good connection and brings us to better solutions.
What do your customers say about it?
One very important topic is our customers like to have a product produced in Germany, where all the controls, all the smart functions of the system and all the connection to the environment via Internet is handled in Germany. We think that is a wise decision for our position in the market.
Are the new Plenticore G3 already available?
Yes, the product is available. We filled the stock of our distributors with the biggest site already in May This is actually running the stock filling of our distributors for the mid-side version. And the S version will be stocked into our wholesalers in next month. So the product is available and ready to order and ready to get installed.
Interview by Heiko Schwarzburger
To get more information about the Plenticore G3, please refer to the website.
