The government's scaling back of a program encouraging residential solar power has Panasonic Corp. hopeful the market for home energy storage systems is about to receive a boost.
In 2019, a program designed to buy back solar power flowing from rooftop panels at above-market rates will start becoming less enticing, potentially leaving homeowners who signed up with excess power on their hands. Osaka-based Panasonic is anticipating that installations of energy storage systems combined with solar panels will rise as a result.
Panasonic has been selling residential energy storage systems that include a battery and an inverter since 2012. In April, it will begin offering a new model a third the size of the current version while also being able to be hung on an outer wall and installed using fewer parts.