Tesvolt Nominated for the German Entrepreneur Award

Wittenberg/Berlin, 5 June 2018 – The commercial storage system manufacturer Tesvolt has been nominated for the renowned German Entrepreneur Award. The panel of judges has named the Wittenberg-based company as one of the top three finalists in the Rising Star category, rating it as being among the most successful start-ups in Germany of recent years. The German Entrepreneur Award is presented by ZDF, stern, Sparkasse and Porsche.

First fully automated storage system production facility

“We are delighted to have been nominated. Since being founded, Tesvolt has achieved an excellent rate of growth. We would never have imagined that our storage systems would have taken off so quickly around the world,” comments Daniel Hannemann, Managing Director of Tesvolt, who established the company with Simon Schandert in 2014. The two engineers started out by using their own savings to develop their very first prototype storage solution. “The demand was there and we both had a large network of connections in the photovoltaics industry,” recalls Hannemann.

The company soon found strong partners in the form of SMA and Samsung SDI. SMA Solar Technology supplies the powerful inverters used in Tesvolt’s storage systems, while Samsung provides the lithium-based prismatic high-efficiency cells of the kind used in state-of-the-art electric cars. “Our next venture is to develop a German gigafactory by planning the first fully automated and digitalised battery production plant in Germany,” says Hannemann. Tesvolt is continuing to grow and the number of staff members it employs in Wittenberg is expected to increase to 50 by the end of the year.

Battery management paved the way for the company’s success

“Our proprietary battery management system is the ultimate reason behind Tesvolt’s success,” says Simon Schandert, Director of Engineering at Tesvolt. “It makes Tesvolt storage systems especially durable and economical, both of which are essential criteria for anyone looking to invest in a large storage solution. While other storage units on the market fall short when it comes to cost efficiency, Tesvolt’s products pay for themselves within a few years – even without subsidies.”

The battery management system ensures that the battery cells are always charged and discharged in an ideal way. The active cell balancing is not only limited to the cells within a battery module, but the different battery modules are also optimised to fit with each other. This design is unique in the world. The Active Battery Optimizer monitors the temperature, voltage and state of charge of each individual cell or battery module, significantly boosting the cells’ lifespan. This gives Tesvolt storage systems a service life of up to 30 years, which is the equivalent of around 8,000 complete charge cycles with a depth of discharge (DoD) of 100 percent. At 92 percent, Tesvolt storage systems also achieve the highest efficiency rating found in the market.

Over 1,000 international projects

More than 1,000 customers are already using Tesvolt storage solutions worldwide. For example, in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, Tesvolt storage units help to ensure that the city’s exhibition centre has a secure power supply. In Rwanda, meanwhile, battery power is used to supply one of the largest water pump projects in the world and in Mali Tesvolt storage systems provide 250,000 people with solar power.

Tesvolt will be presenting its battery storage systems at Intersolar Europe in Munich from 20–22 June 2018.

Tesvolt booth: Hall B1, booth 550