Solar Power International was a successful and busy week for SimpliPhi Power!

Much like last year, energy storage was a hot topic of conversation in the sessions and on the show floor. For SimpliPhi, it started with the release of our new AccESS integrated plug-and-play energy storage system, which we developed in partnership with solar and energy storage installers to optimize equipment and streamline levelized cost of storage calculations.

New solar-plus-storage system available from SimpliPhi https://t.co/fvU6NaEhoJ @Simpliphipower

— Solar Builder (@Solar_Builder) August 31, 2016

At our SPI booth, we heard from a variety of installers, integrators and distributors for both commercial and residential applications, working with low and high voltage projects. These visitors told us how the AccESS was a solution that helped them streamline recommending energy storage to their customers. They shared with us how difficult it is to navigate fact from fiction in the vast array of available energy storage solutions being introduced to the market.. Compound that with a lack of transparency regarding the true availability of products, warranty terms and discrepancies across performance parameters, the AccESS and SimpliPhi’s long track record of deployed systems was a welcome and credible solution. When word got out it could be installed outside, our booth was soon packed and stayed busy throughout the show.

On Tuesday afternoon, I shared some of market feedback we were receiving in our booth on a panel discussion, The Future of Behind the Meter Storage. With an industry changing so rapidly, there was much debate on what the next five years of energy storage would look like and what market drivers would impact its growth. While some companies see the use of distributed energy storage primarily as an asset owned by the utility or third parties, and deployed as a virtual power plant to offset grid loads during peak demand as the main market driver, I saw it was important to counter that with what SimpliPhi continually finds within our customer network. That energy storage is an asset that people want to own and deploy to create power security on their own terms.

Standing room only at the Future of Behind the Meter Storage panel! @stempowered @Simpliphipower @Sunverge #SPICon #Storageishere

— Jeni Hall (@solarjeni) September 13, 2016

Next it was off to the press room for an interviews with GTM Research, Solar Builder, Business Energy, DC Nexus, the Stratton Report, and the Solar-Fit Renewable Energy Podcast to name a few.

Thanks @SolarFit for chatting w/ @cevonburg about our new accESS plug-and-play #energystorage solution! #SPIcon pic.twitter.com/mGKIA0oM2o

— SimpliPhi Power (@Simpliphipower) September 13, 2016

With the Stratton Report we got a chance to talk about the market outlook we see for energy storage, one where people want to own their energy assets and have access to those resources at any time. People’s decisions are driven less by helping utilities build virtual power plants that they can drawn on when the grid needs additional capacity, and more by providing critical power resiliency and security for themselves.

Throughout the show, we found time to visit booth of potential partners and competitors. We found it refreshing to visit several companies who were receptive to having open discussions about their technology, even though we are thought of as competitors in the industry. Such a healthy mix of cooperation and competition between companies can make all of our solutions that much better. Candid dialogue amongst technologists focused on solving problems in the energy industry can often have an additive and synergistic effect in creating robust solutions. We were pleased have the opportunity to engage in open dialogue and benefit from different perspectives with so many storage professionals at the show.