General Electric: GE to triple its solar and battery energy storage Power Electronics capacity in 2022

GE is tripling its solar and battery energy storage Power Electronics Systems manufacturing capacity by the end of 2022 to 9 GW per annum, linked to strong growth in backlog over the past few months and a robust demand outlook.

The systems are manufactured at GE’s newly launched Renewable Hybrids factory. Earlier in 2022, GE announced the opening of its Renewable Hybrids manufacturing site in Vallam, near Chennai, India. The site manufactures GE’s Power Conversion Solution called FLEXINVERTER (formerly known as LV5+), as well as the FLEXRESERVOIR, and helps integrate them with the FLEXIQ solution, from GE Renewable Hybrids’s FLEX portfolio, designed to solve customers’ needs for dispatchable, green MWhs in Solar, Storage and Hybrid applications.

Prakash Chandra, Renewable Hybrids CEO, GE, said: “Solar and Battery Energy Storage will continue to be a key driver in delivering Hybrid systems that enable the energy transition. GE is committed to provide cutting edge technologies around power conversion solutions and software enabled controls to meet growing customer needs in the Hybrids space. Our new factory has ramped up to meet increasing industry and customer demand.”

For the past fifteen years, GE has delivered Standalone Solar Inverters and Solar Power Stations for customers globally and has been the first to introduce the 1500 V technology to the industry in 2012 which has helped customers reduce the cost of energy through a more efficient farm layout.

Chandra said, “We have received positive feedback from customers on all our Hybrid systems, including the FLEXINVERTER Power Station technology, an integrated containerized solution that combines a solar inverter, medium voltage power transformer, and an optional MV Ring Main Unit, all integrated in a standard 20-feet ISO high cube container. The technology is a smart solution that helps deliver a reliable, cost-effective, plug & play, factory-integrated power conversion platform for utility scale solar and storage applications. Customers like the fact that it helps reduce capital and operation costs and ensure a more reliable plant performance.”

GE offers several hybrids related products. The FLEXINVERTER is a key component of GE’s Renewable Hybrids FLEX portfolio that includes the FLEXRESERVOIR and the FLEXIQ technologies. The FLEXRESERVOIR is a systems integrated battery energy storage and power electronics solution for multiple configurations and market applications. FLEXIQ is a digital platform that provides design, operation, and fleet management solutions to enable grid compliance and maximize lifetime customer value.

GE is committed to enable the energy transition by supporting the work of our customers, every day. It the essence of our business, as we supply and maintain a global fleet of renewable energy assets, help reduce the cost of renewable energy, ensure grid resiliency, efficiency, and reliability, and make renewable energy function more dispatchable. It represents our identity, as we pursue our company strategy to more sustainable, circular design activities.