By Michael Kanaabi Dollar
Huawei Technologies a global leader in many things technology including clean and smart energy solutions is taking bigger leaps in the clean energy space and has partnered with leading distributor of top of the market energy solutions Chloride Exide in introducing it’s Smart Photovoltaic solutions which include the latest cutting edge inverters for mainly commercial and industrial consumers in the solar(clean energy space).
With presence across the 3 main markets in East Africa Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania plus over 22 outlets, over 60 years in the energy solutions business and 5000 plus dealers across Africa Chloride Exide is the ideal partner that will bring Huawei’s new Smart PV solutions to the customer and retailer.
According to Edward Ritchie the Regional Business Development Manager for Chloride Exide in greater East Africa, the two companies have but a solid partnership dating back to 2020, selling and installing over 50 megawatts of inverters in the first year, building more local presence and being able to offer real time sales and support technical services to clients.
Over 1000 people have been trained as technicians with a specialty in this equipment in Kenya and this is being extended to Uganda too, to grow the capacity and adoption of the two companies’ products and services in the market while enjoying real time technical support across board.
Nick Lusson, Huawei Digital Power’s Vice President for Eastern Africa assured guests and industry stakeholders at the launch of this partnership in Fairway hotel Kampala recently that as a manufacturer of clean and solar energy solutions they are standing on solid ground given the company has over 55% of it’s total employees in Research and Development improving products regularly and creating new more advanced ones based on market demand.
“With 99 Billion US dollars in revenue for 2023, we are grounded globally and you can rely on our effective and efficient products when it comes to solar and renewable power because we cover residential, Commercial and Industrial plus Utility and scale making us present in all 3 categories of the market” he says.
So far they have installed over 130 gigawatts of inverters and 11.5 gigawatt hours of batteries making them the number one inverter manufacturer in the world for 8 straight years now.
With the ability to offer end to end solutions eliminating the inefficiency that comes with sourcing different parts from different manufacturers, they have consistently delivered better performance, safety and after sales services cemented by their long-term partnership with Chloride Exide and other competent partners.
Lusson observed that the Levelised Cost of Solar that is initial set up and operational costs over time has dropped tremendously versus the cost of grid and diesel generated electricity making it more viable than ever to install it on your premises.
“However with the inverter being the most critical piece of equipment given it’s where conversion, safety and efficiency all converge when it comes to off grid power systems, it should be of premium quality to avert losses that come with downtime, possibility of fires and other challenges. This is the very reason why Huawei which is 3rd party certified with a failure rate of less than 0.5% should be the best choice” he says.
The batteries part of the newly unveiled smart photovaltic solutions have proven to have a 99.9% availability through their life time with only one failure reported for every 10,000 batteries with replacement happening in 72 hours from reporting all remarkable numbers.
Value has been emphasized over cost with this equipment and if one is looking for a quick return or cheap product they can look else where but if their interest is a good return on investment (ROI) in the medium to longterm, Huawei is the way to go Lusson emohasized.
With local support from all Chloride Exide agents on ground, good after sales services and almost no substantial maintenance costs, in about three years the company’ independent power solutions are able to have completely paid off their investment cost and it is profit from then onwards for the investor or owner operator.
Other strong points of this equipment include having smart sensors embedded with in the battery systems to detect any problems and ensure safety, spare batteries are available on standby in case a replacement is required, no cell mismatch, 15% more efficient because the other batteries in the equipment continue to charge even when the first one is full, old and new batteries can be mixed without compromising performance to mention but a few.
Solar Business Development Manager at Huawei Uganda Ivan Muyomba noted that their product strength starts from intensive Research and Development to design and manufacture that’s why for example our batteries can last up to 19 years when doing a single cycle a day because this equipment is made to do up to 6500 cycles and completing over 9 years when doing two cycles a day.
Going forward, William Odongo the Chloride Exide country Manager for Uganda says Chloride Exide and Huawei will continue to provide innovative cutting edge smart and clean energy solutions to all market segments that is residential, commercial and industrial plus the utility and scale category keeping abreast with changing trends and demands in the sector.
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