‘We are not going to leave storage at all’ says SolarEdge GM for Europe

Storage will remain a “key component” of the SolarEdge business, the company’s general manager for Europe told ESS News, despite announcing the closure of an energy storage division in November 2024.

Christian Carraro, who was appointed Europe general manager in July, said the SolarEdge’s decision to sell off its 2 GWh battery cell manufacturing facility in South Korea does not mean the company is less committed to its storage business for residential and commercial applications.

“We are not going to leave storage at all, because storage is one of the key components today, tomorrow, and in the future of the solar industry,” said Carraro.

When the decision to close the South Korea manufacturing facility was first announced, a company spokesperson told ESS News that the closures would only affect its utility-scale business.

Carraro expanded, telling ESS News that when it comes to utility-scale storage “usually those manufacturers are acting like EPCs” – in contrast to the SolarEdge business model.

“What we did is rationalize the business,” he said. “We are not closing at all the research and development and manufacturing of our storage products for the PV industry. We are even accelerating, we are developing this new modular battery for single-phase and three-phase application in residential. We have already launched our CSS battery which is 100 kWh modular [commercial and industrial storage] system, so we keep on developing and we will bring more.”

SolarEdge first opened its Sella 2 battery cell manufacturing site in Chungcheongbuk-Do, South Korea, in 2022. In November 2024, the company announced it would close its energy storage division to focus on “core solar activities.” The decision has resulted in 500 job losses, mostly in South Korea.