Robert Kenderessy, Country Manager for Balkans Area at SolaX Power: Advanced Battery Technologies Paving the Way to Cleaner Energy
As a professional with over 20 years of experience in sales and marketing, Robert Kenderessy has been focused on Solar Energy, Telecom, Pharma, FMCG, Horeca, Packaging, Fabrics. His domains and experiences gained include B2B key account sales, Trainings and business coaching, Brand development, Marketing, Management, Business development strategies and market analysis, Competition analysis, Sales team-buildings and sales funnel strategies, Business and scale-up development, Marketing and Sales scale-Up.
Currently, Robert Kenderessy is SolaX Ambassador for the Balkan region.
SolaX Power is a global leader in solar inverter technology, manufacturing products that are renowned for their reliability, efficiency, and affordability. Founded in 2012, the company has rapidly risen to become a global leader in photovoltaic energy storage systems and smart energy solutions. SolaX delivers innovative energy solutions for homeowners, businesses and utilities, their product range incorporating the latest innovations in solar energy. Robert Kenderessy, Country Manager for Balkans Area at SolaX Power, speaks about advanced battery technologies, the company’s smart solutions and newly released clean energy products and projects.
Dear Mr. Robert Kenderessy, as a professional with over 20 years of experience in sales and marketing, how do you see the solar energy market in Romania compared to peers across the Balkans area? How is SolaX positioned in this landscape?
The development of the renewable energy market in Romania is already in its second wave; we were not part of the first one, but it is clear that there is still a lot to be done in a market that has developed greatly in the last 5 years. In Europe, I would say that Romania is one of the countries with one of the highest economic growth rates, and we can feel it in everyone’s income, even if not necessarily in purchasing power.
As for this new wave in renewables, Romania is currently facing a great potential, because – practically – the European money has not been fully used, and this reason leads Romania to a massive delay, and our targets for RePowerEU are delayed by at least 2-3 years.
Before talking about the Balkan countries, I would like to mention those that are part of the region I represent:
Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. So, we are talking about 11 countries, of which Romania is the largest, has the largest population and is one of the 4 countries that are part of the European Union.
Compared to the other Balkan countries, we are 2 years ahead in this wave. Compared to Bulgaria we are lagging behind and compared to the rest of the Balkan countries we are ahead. Bulgaria has the same number of GW installed as Romania but is half the size of our country. Both in terms of size and population, which leads to the conclusion that Bulgaria is not that far behind, but they are still working on implementation and legislation.
In Serbia and Bulgaria, the subsidies have come in, but the fact that many Balkan countries are not in the EU makes it harder for renewables to be adopted as they don’t benefit from EU programs. However, Europe is looking at these Balkan countries and wants to help them, but really, in the long term, we are sure that the Balkan countries will also start to move towards renewables.
Since its foundation, nearly 13 years ago, SolaX established itself as a global leader in photovoltaic energy storage systems and solutions. Briefly, would you like to share the milestones of SolaX’s growth journey?
SolaX Power can show with very clear figures that in 13 years it has managed to put on the market more than 700.000 inverters – and we are talking about at least 600-650 thousand residential -, it has a massive market share in Germany, where we have more than 12 GW installed, more than 40% market share in the Czech Republic, we have somewhere around 40% growth at national level in Romania in the last year. Through our strategic partners we have prepared in such a way to have a scale-up business, so that through the certification centers, through successful partnerships, we have been able to bring these numbers and prove that it can be done. This time last year, many of you didn’t know about SolaX. Now you know and – here we are talking about the past and the future.
A lot of people still don’t know SolaX in Romania and we are working very hard to get the word SolaX into the ears of our potential customers and not only that; we offer a complete SolaX product learning platform and from the feedback we get from the market we feel that any new installer who gets hold of a SolaX, doesn’t want to change it. Because of the technical benefits it brings, the qualitative benefits, we believe it is a product worth considering and we want to be in the Top 3 in the next 2 years.
The most important points in this timeline:
- 2013, when we introduced the first hybrid in Asia, it was an LV; also, then we entered the first country outside of China, it’s about the UK.
- 2017, when we created the world’s first three-phase hybrid inverter.
- 2021 is the year in which the design of the new (at that time) X-ESS received the Red Dot Award, and the quality of SolaX products was recognized and awarded by TÜV Rheinland (All Quality Matters Award).
- 2023 was the year we launched the X3-Ultra and the start in the C&I segment. The same year also marked the re-launch of Low Voltage hybrids, sensing the need in some price-sensitive or grid-challenged markets.
- In January 2024, we were listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange STAR Market.
- The same year, in March, we became BVB (Borussia Dortmund) partners.
- 2024 also saw the launch of micro-inverters, ESS Trene and Aelio cabinets in the C&I segment and the highest performing residential all-in-one system, the X1-IES and X3-IES.
SolaX’s work outside China has become very important and local teams have been created. So, by the end of this year, we aim to have a physical headquarters with an office in Romania. We already have the technical support here with 3 colleagues and the team is likely to grow as the number and complexity of installations increase. Here I would like to point out that at a time when most large companies in the industry have drastically reduced the number of employees, amid falling prices and massive expansion in recent years, SolaX Power is expanding its team outside China and investing in local teams with local specialists who understand the markets and act accordingly. So, at a time when others were closing positions, we opened new positions, both in technical support and sales, because we want to have direct communication with our partners and clients.
How did SolaX start its activity in Romania? What is your market share in the region and in Romania?
I think it’s important to emphasize that SolaX has been present in Romania for 5 years through 2 installers, who were active in the HVAC field, not even in the photovoltaic field, and tried our products. Although they had installed other brands, they found SolaX to be the most suitable because of the efficient and reliable communication between the inverter and the heat pumps and the fact that no additional equipment is needed to connect the inverter to the heat pump. Moreover, it was promoted in the HVAC field for 2 years and a very large distributor in Romania decided to make a dedicated distribution line with SolaX. In addition to these 2 distributors, who have been established for 5 years, we have grown with 2 smaller distributors and together with the SolaX Overseas team we managed to have that 40% growth last year in Romania. These two installers and distributors that have paved the way for Romanian HVAC and then photovoltaic installers to SolaX are Black Sea Suppliers and Sistema Floor Heating.
Knowing that the energy world is set to change significantly by 2030, what are your company’s current solutions and recently launched clean energy products and projects?
We have taken very big steps last year and the first step was entering the C&I segment. Until 2023-2024 SolaX was considered a very strong competitor only in the Residential market, but last year we opened a new line of business and – while we continued to produce high quality inverters, batteries and EV chargers, we also started developing products of increased capacities for the needs of Commercial and Industrial customers. The 4 big steps were the following:
- Introducing the Aelio All-In-One system, consisting of a 50- or 60-kW inverter and an integrated 100 or 200 kWh storage system. Subsequently we launched the Trene integrated storage system with 215 kWh capacity and 100 kW AC coupled power, and this year we added a second SolaX ESS Trene configuration, with an increased capacity of 261 kWh and an increased power of 125 kW thanks to integrated liquid cooling. The first version is air-cooled.
- Introducing our X3-GRAND HV line of industrial inverters starting this month, with capacities of 300/320/333 or even 350 kW.
- The biggest step taken by SolaX this year is the company’s entry into the super-heavy-duty category of high-capacity integrated storage units, with customizable variants to suit project needs and proposed 2.5, 5- and 7.5-MWh variants. I’m talking here about the ESS-ORI system. The client tells us everything it needs, and we provide it with a custom-made containerized battery that can be comissioned very easily and very quickly, pre-configured straight from the factory.
- Our fourth big step this year will be the introduction of SolaX air-to-water heat pumps. We didn’t just labeled a heat pump SolaX, we did not put someone else to make this product under our brand, but we have developed from scratch this new product, we produce it and SolaX will also provide the sales and after-sales services. It’s a highly sought-after product for existing SolaX clients and beyond, because it makes it extremely easy to communicate between inverter and heat pump on a single platform, the SolaX Cloud.
I believe that the major investments that are being made in R&D, we have somewhere around 30% of our employees in Research and Development, as well as the company’s dedication to a completely new direction, but one that is not at all new or unknown to us, because the entire heat pump development department has decades of experience in renowned companies in the HVAC world, will make the success of SolaX heat pumps guaranteed. We have brought in managers, engineers, technicians and we want to go out on the market – as we always do – with a product that will be better in terms of quality, but also technology than our current competitors. In these two aspects we will always be ahead of the rest.
SolaX Power’s dedication to C&I and even Utility and Big Industrial is complemented by a new big launch: The company’s first ever Fast DC Charger with 120:280/240/300/360 kW charging capacities, unveiled March 11-13 at SOLAR Solutions International in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
We have prepared and aligned for all European programs, NRRP, RePowerEU or ElectricUp, on all segments we have a solution that can implement these programs at a decisive value for money.
More precisely, what does SolaX solar inverter technology bring to the table? What are the advantages of the proposed solution?
Let’s take them one by one:
- The ability of SolaX Power inverters to operate at high voltages: SolaX hybrid inverters go up to 1,000 V and allow up to 200% oversizing of panel capacity. Also, the low starting voltage of most SolaX hybrid inverters means that energy production starts early, at the first rays of sunlight. If these two features are combined, with more panels we get the 200V minimum much faster, so production will start earlier and be more constant throughout the day, without the fear of not having enough power for instant consumption or empty batteries in the evening. A well-commissioned system allows maximum utilization of the SolaX hybrid inverter’s production capacity, but also simultaneous charging of the batteries with the surplus that the panels provide at midday, when the sun’s rays hit the photovoltaic panels directly and strongly.
- Smart energy management makes systems with SolaX Cloud learn your home’s habits on the fly and optimize output, consumption and charging. We can select smart scenarios, where the heat pump, boiler or any serious consumer, EV charger or battery charging are prioritized as we wish. For example, I can set the EV charger to charge the electric car from PV only. Or I can prioritize water heating in the boiler or heat pump so that – a few hours after the sun has gone down – we still have the warm enough heating agent or the right home temperature, according to the AI-learned habits of the SolaX Cloud.
- The Unbalance function is already well-known, and it is no longer contested by anyone that – in more than 90% of existing houses – the consumption is not balanced over the 3 phases in the electrical installation. Therefore, at an output of 9 kW, a system without the Unbalance function will deliver 3 kW in each phase, and if a consumer demands more, it will not be able to operate at capacity. But SolaX systems know how to provide an instantaneous load in EPS of up to double the capacity of the inverter (if we have battery power or 200% PV) and can provide as much as needed on a single phase constantly, without forcing a consumer to rewire their entire home. We know what that can mean…
- The micro-grid function, which allows an existing PV inverter to operate in tandem with a SolaX hybrid, thus using the power generated by an existing on-grid system without the need to completely replace the PV system. We can expand system capacity whenever and by as much as needed, according to the actual needs of the home, business or even for Utility projects.
- There would be many more features to describe here, but I prefer meeting SolaX engineers at the events we attend and discuss them at length: built-in shadow tracking, smart loads management (heat pump, smart EV charger), VPP ready, IP 66 protection degree, optional AFCI protection for isolating faulty PVs, microgrid and generator function for versatile operations.
In conclusion, imagine what components an inverter must have inside to enable all these top features described above, 200% oversize, 200% overload on EPS, simultaneous battery charging and keeping instantaneous consumption at the inverter’s maximum capacity, extended warranty up to 16 years for inverters and much more.
When it comes to solutions, another big differentiator between us and the competition is the fast response time of our support team. We have dedicated department that comes on-site if the installer has a problem. We help him by holding his hand. We help him by being there for him when he needs it. We have a free hotline where he can contact us at any time. Whatever happens, we’re there. We have 3 people with over 6 years’ experience in the field. We have senior engineers who can prove at any time that they have this experience. Now, of all the installations that are on the market in the last 5 years, we can boast a maximum of 5 unresolved tickets that are within a few days. I don’t think there are competitors in the market that can boast so few tickets.
Last year, you announced the opening of the SolaX Power’s training and certification center in Romania. What types of certifications do you offer and to whom is this program addressed?
We considered taking a step forward and not just doing simple trainings and presentations. Our client has to get a functional product. When the installer sees in training that it takes just 3 minutes to commission, when he sees that it takes 30 minutes for a complete installation, that’s when he will realize how good our product is. That’s why we want to invite as many installers as possible, to make sure they know how to install them correctly and – at the same time – learn something new and keep up with the latest technology.
In addition, we have implemented an installer loyalty program, called the SolaX Installers Program, we will have many online campaigns connecting end customers to trusted, certified installers. We have created a local website, www.VreauSolaX.ro, to help us in this endeavour. What installer wouldn’t want their equipment supplier to not only provide them with quality products that install easily, quickly and safely, offer fast and professional technical support, but also bring them customers? So, they focus on what they do best: installing, commissioning, being recommended by customers and growing their business year after year.
It is very important for the end customer to sleep peacefully at night, without the fear that the battery will catch fire, it is very important to know that the installer who came to his home and makes an installation is not endangering his life, his family, his home, that he is an installer who has gone through our certification training. We don’t allow these installers not to do their job properly. These certifications need to be reconfirmed periodically, we want to make sure that these installers know what’s happening in the market, that they are up to date with the latest technologies and firmware updates since the last training. We need to make sure they know that, and we are always there for them, both on the phone and physically. We visit our clients as often as we can. It’s not just a sale between two companies, it’s a partnership and a friendship between two people who are directly interested in the well-being, safety, health and satisfaction of our clients.
Returning to the SolaX Installers program, it is live on SolaxPower.com, INSTALLERS section. We will also have a Romanian version, and we will soon launch a section where they will start to accumulate points and be able to spend them on the platform, on team training, promotional materials, showroom equipment or even discounts on certain products. Through the SolaX Installers Program, any partner will be able to test new products, easily and securely upgrade firmware remotely, giving end-users a pleasant, professional experience.
Access to the program includes 3 levels, Associate, Professional and Expert. Once enrolled in the program, after completing the first online or offline training, there’s only one more condition to be certified: to have a minimum of one SolaX installation that year. Then, after 10 installations in one year, a second training follows, this time only in a certification centre, the Professional level follows, and after 30 installations in one year and a third training with physical presence, an installer will reach the Expert level. Each level is marked by a framed certificate, good to display in the office or publish on the website, social media and wherever the installer will meet future customers.
SolaX Points will be earned at different frequencies and speeds depending on the level in the program. They will receive points for installations, for recommending SolaX to other installers, to end customers, and a host of other benefits including technical support, rapid replacement, listing on the SolaX Partner Map, invitations to branded events, access to the SolaX public drive and subscription to a newsletter with industry news and access to new SolaX Power releases before everyone else.
We want there to be 5 certification centres, we currently have one in Bucharest, we are opening one in Arad as soon as possible, and the next ones we want to be in Moldavia, in the centre of the country and maybe in the south or west, we don’t know if Oradea, Timisoara or Constanta, to make it as easy as possible for installers to access and be present at these centers.
What about the plans to open a production facility in Europe as you also announced in 2024?
Obviously, SolaX Power is looking confidently towards Europe, we still want to open a factory in this part of Europe, but we are currently analysing in which country it would be better to do it. The current context, linked to the border conflict, the political context in the whole of Europe, make us wait a bit and weigh much more carefully where, when and whether to make this investment.
So, we don’t know for sure which country we will open a production plant in, but what I can tell you is that we are looking for MW projects to develop and finance in Romania; a smaller one and then a bigger one, to give a boost of courage to investors to trust SolaX.
What would be the main pillars of SolaX’s strategy on research and innovation? What is SolaX’s R&D capital expenditure ratio?
As I said, 30% of SolaX Power’s employees are in R&D, a percentage that has increased in the last year by another 15%, adding a full BESS department and another for heat pumps. On top of that, we are also developing a Fast DC Charger up to 350 kW, which again requires additional efforts and large investments in R&D.
It’s already well known that SolaX products are unlike any other competing product. Because every product is designed, conceived, developed, built, tested, promoted, sold by us. We call it a One-Stop Solution. In addition, after sale services are also provided by us, through our technical and sales support teams. Therefore, a SolaX product starts from an identified need in the market, goes through several stages of development, then production, testing, sales in certain test markets, then large-scale launch in the right markets. For example, now, SolaX Power is not known as an established manufacturer of low voltage inverters and batteries. But we have several such products, we have tested them on several markets, and we are ready to offer this category of products in Romania, where other HV solutions fail to meet the need. We are talking about a price-sensitive market, about subsidies like Casa Verde, where RON 500 can make the difference between one product or another. The installer needs to choose between a good manufacturer that offers a complete package and another that only offers price. No technical support, no training, no rapid replacement, no warranties for installers and no after sale system to give the end customers the confidence that they have made a choice for 10-15 years. If you told a customer who wants it cheap, and if possible, also fast, that after the installation, they can’t get hold of you as an installer, they might think twice about what to choose. Or if they knew before choosing an installer that it uses makeshift tools, lacks thorough training and uses poor quality materials, they might ask more questions about these issues.
Fortunately, in Romania there are no examples yet of misfortunes caused by a poorly executed photovoltaic installation or an unfortunate combination of inverter + no name battery, but those who accept such installations and installers are literally playing with fire and risking their lives, property and health.
Research is at the heart of every development and our equipment is intensively tested, both before it goes to market and later in the field, to learn what can be improved in future products. Our hybrid inverters have already reached the G4 version, the EV charger the G2 version. Every software enhancement will be offered through a firmware upgrade, but sometimes the hardware needs to be upgraded, and then we come up with a new version. For several products we have Pro versions. Those are also enhanced versions, which come after our products have been launched and tested in the real world.
The global energy landscape is witnessing a massive transformation, marked by the significant growth of clean and renewable energy and the adoption of digital technologies. In your view, what is the role of smart energy management for efficient and sustainable energy use?
There is no doubt that the future will be dominated by technology, and the proper analysis and management of the data provided by PV systems will make a big difference in the market. So, the battle will be between systems that manage and streamline energy use.
We already see that there is talk of differentiated tariffs in Romania too. We know that many European countries have already experienced with these tariffs and adapted. It is only natural that we will focus more and more on efficient energy use and that we will give end-users the choice to decide at which price to sell, buy or whether to do so. With PV, grid and batteries, the SolaX Cloud system learns about consumption and production, anticipates based on likely weather and makes scenario recommendations. It may decide to charge the batteries when it anticipates an overproduction, it may decide to start the attached diesel generator when energy is in high demand and it is more convenient to send the energy produced or stored to the grid at a favourable rate, or it may decide to keep the batteries at maximum level if it anticipates that in the coming days we will not have enough sun to produce. In the future it may recommend increasing the storage capacity, it may even watch the prices at the suppliers and place orders for us.
And if we are talking about VPP (Virtual Power Plant), information from several manufacturers, prosumers, from many systems and networks come together, and such an energy management system will know how to streamline everything for the benefit of all involved.
We are already accustomed, in just over 3 years, to using AI in all areas of everyday life. Because we all understand that this Artificial Intelligence can compile large amounts of data in a very short time and can offer us solutions that we don’t see, not having all the information at hand.
But an efficient energy management system can take its live information from the internet, from various sensors, from neighbours, the public grid, news, government portals and even anticipate certain scenarios, thus making everyday life more efficient, more comfortable, more peaceful. We will no longer have the stress of not having the energy to charge the electric car, we already know that there are cars that allow you to consume energy from the car battery at home, when the energy in the public grid is more expensive and then charge the car battery when we have over-production and low consumption at home.
The future sounds good. And it sounds Smart!
What are SolaX’s main development directions in Romania and in the Balkan area in future?
The future is best seen by looking a little into the past. For many manufacturers, 2024 meant redundancies, downsizing, some distributors withdrew completely from some markets, many specialists were left out. This has been really good for us; I was telling you that we have brought in whole departments from reputable companies to develop new product categories. SolaX grew from 1 to 7 employees in Romania last year. We have 6 Romanians and an engineer from China, who is always here, she belongs to our area and helps us to eliminate the language barrier, being in direct contact with the specialists from China, but representing the Balkan area. The growth that we’ve had in the last year is due to these decisions, to grow the local team, to create partnerships with installers, not just sell them cheap; to build a team that our partners can rely on, to build certification centres for them and for the end customer. We built from scratch www.VreauSolaX.ro, a new idea for HQ, but they trusted our Marketing team and let us grow it, precisely because good things are happening in Romania.
As for the Balkans, right now we are finalizing the details for a certification centre in Sofia (Bulgaria), a 100% SolaX investment, which will initially serve the whole region (Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania all have similar languages). After 6 months of seeing exactly how things are moving, we want to extend these certification centers to all Balkan countries, depending on demand, the openness of installers, the political and economic context and – of course – the market share in each country.
Obviously, each country will have a technical manager, a trainer and – of course – a salesperson. My estimate for the next 2 years is that we will reach a total of 36 people across the Balkans, without the external staff we work with. Moreover, in Romania we have – in addition to our 7 employees – 3 permanent collaborators and an agency with more than 80 employees, with whom we develop promotion and SEO campaigns.
SolaX strategy also includes pricing, obviously. I think it should be an average price, which is as close as possible to market reality. I currently consider SolaX to be a premium product. The fact that clients don’t know that installers only realize that after training, that’s our job; to make them understand and let them decide that it’s a premium product. Basically, we can say that SolaX Power comes on the market with absolutely all products, from 0.6 kW micro inverters to large 350 kW inverters, with batteries from 2.5 kWh to 7.5 MWh, with inverters that allow connection to any other existing photovoltaic system, through the AC couple function, dedicated batteries, because this is the only way to guarantee the end user 10 or even 16 years of peace of mind and safety. We offer complete solutions for C&I or even Utility projects, options to reduce costs or make a profit, to cover rising energy costs or to generate a reliable and current source of income.
