Former Holden Factory Produces Solar Batteries for New Zealand

PRESS RELEASE

Auckland, NEW ZEALAND – 10 May 2019 – sonnen announced that sonnenBatteries produced in the former Holden factory in South Australia will be shipped to New Zealand from today.

Since taking over the premise of the former Holden factory at Elizabeth, sonnen has commenced production of sonnenBatteries that are designed in Germany and made in Australia. More than 50 sonnen staff at Elizabeth are employed in production, warehousing, shipping, the call centre and technical service.

All of sonnen’s production employees were formerly from Holden and they are responsible for the production of home batteries to meet the demand for sonnenBatteries in Australia and for export to New Zealand and Asia.

Available exclusively through Taspac Energy, the sonnenBatterie hybrid is a fully-integrated intelligent energy storage system that includes a solar inverter. This will reduce the cost of installing a new solar system and increase the overall efficiency of the system.

The latest sonnenBatterie includes two new features that will increase the resilience of households in New Zealand that are prone to blackouts and to restore power quickly in an event of a natural disaster:

sonnenProtect isolates a storage system during a mains power blackout so households can get backup power for essential power circuits.

• Additional protection is available through Black Start, a new feature that allows homeowners to recharge their batteries with energy produced by their solar panels without a grid connection.

Nathan Dunn, CEO of sonnen Asia Pacific said, “Holden has been recognised for its heritage in producing cars in Australia for many years. With its departure, sonnen has now revitalised manufacturing by making cleantech manufacturing the new engine of growth.

Not only does this support South Australia, it also benefits the Trans-Tasman region as sonnen is now reducing the lead time it takes to bring batteries to our customers in New Zealand.”

“sonnen is delighted to be working with Taspac Energy as our exclusive partner in New Zealand. The features in our new sonnenBatterie hybrid means customers can be assured their energy supply is uninterrupted in an event of a natural disaster or should their homes be located in an area where the grid is less resilient,” said Mr Dunn.

Dwayne Cocker, Director and General Manager of Taspac Energy said, “We see significant growth opportunities for sonnen in New Zealand because sonnen offers the world’s most intelligent energy storage solution that our customers want.”

“In recent years, Taspac Energy has seen an organic growth in the demand for home batteries with more households looking for independence from their energy retailers. Homeowners also want to have rooftop solar and energy storage because it reduces their power bills and helps them to achieve greater energy self-sufficiency,” said Mr Cocker.

sonnen and Taspac Energy will run a series of training programs across New Zealand to provide installers with the technical knowledge they need to confidently tap into the growth opportunities in New Zealand’s home battery market.

According to the Sustainable Energy Association New Zealand (SEANZ), one new solar photovoltaic (PV) system is installed in New Zealand every 25 minutes. 30 percent of New Zealand households with a solar system have battery storage. This is increased from 24 percent in 2017 and 16 percent in 2016.