Ginlong (Solis) Technologies announced on 23 October 2024 that it has expanded its smart battery charging and discharging solutions to customers in 14 countries across Europe, including the United Kingdom1. The company describes itself as "a leading global manufacturer of PV string inverters" and gives its stock code as 300763. SZ1.
The functionality sits in SolisCloud, the company's monitoring platform. Solis says it "leverages data from third-party electricity trading platforms, such as Nordpool, to forecast day-ahead prices and provide precise hourly pricing for different regions and countries"1. SolisCloud retrieves day-ahead prices from platforms such as Nordpool and Octopus, so that system owners can see when electricity prices are expected to be high or low1. Depending on the inverter model, customers can set up to 12 time periods for charging and discharging1.
The stated logic is straightforward: charging draws energy into the battery during low-price periods, reducing costs, while discharging releases it during high-price periods, maximising savings or earnings1. Solis says SolisCloud "automatically manages charging and discharging behaviours based on real-time data, user demand, and predicted electricity consumption patterns"1. The company states the smart functionality reduces overall electricity costs and maximises savings "with or without solar PV installed"1.
Travis Synder, Product Manager at Solis, said:
"Our hybrid inverters are compatible with battery models from global brands, giving installers and system owners complete flexibility in designing a system that fits their individual needs & energy consumption profile."
The announcement names 14 European countries as currently able to benefit from the smart charge and discharge features, but the list itself is not reproduced in the text available1. The United Kingdom is named in the announcement's opening line1. Solis says it is "actively working to expand the coverage of this new capability in more countries across Europe"1. No pricing, subscription cost or hardware requirement beyond a compatible Solis hybrid inverter and battery is given1.
Why it matters for households
A home battery only earns its keep if it charges when power is cheap and discharges when power is dear. Doing that by hand means watching half-hourly or hourly prices and adjusting settings, which most households will not sustain. Automating the decision inside the inverter's own monitoring app moves the battery closer to running itself, and it is the mechanism behind stacking a home battery with smart and time-of-use tariffs.
Two details shape what this means in practice. First, the feature is tied to Solis hybrid inverters and the SolisCloud platform, so it applies to Solis storage inverters and home batteries rather than to any battery. Second, the number of charge and discharge windows varies by inverter model, up to 121, which matters where a tariff has several cheap periods in a day. Households weighing how much of a battery's capacity can actually be cycled should look at battery capacity, nominal kWh and usable kWh and at battery power ratings and C-rate, since both limit how much can be shifted in a short cheap window.
The claim that the function works with or without solar panels1 is significant for homes without a roof array: it points to price arbitrage alone, buying cheap and discharging dear, as a route to lower bills and a degree of independence from peak pricing. Whether that pays depends on the gap between cheap and expensive periods on the household's own tariff, which the announcement does not quantify1.
What happens next
Solis says it is working to extend the capability to more countries across Europe, without giving dates or a list of markets1. No UK-specific rollout date, tariff partnership detail or eligibility conditions beyond the 14-country scope have been reported1.
Sources1 cited
- Solis Launches Smart Charge & Discharge Functionality, solisinverters.com