Sungrow solar batteries reviews

China's Sungrow is probably best known for its inverters - but it also manufactures solar batteries.

Sungrow was founded in 1997 by Professor Renxian Cao, who was previously a teacher at the Hefei University of Technology. Since its humble beginnings, the company has grown into one of the world's largest manufacturers of inverters. In more recent years, it has turned its attention to energy storage.

Sungrow has produced batteries ranging in capacity from 4.8 kWh to thumping great utility scale energy storage solutions; not that Australian home owners will have any use for the latter. Still, it shows the company is serious about storage rather than just dabbling.

Sungrow PowCube

For residential applications, the company's first home energy storage product sold in Australia was the SunGrow SBP4K8 (PowCube), which featured prismatic cells manufactured by Samsung. Sungrow said the PowCube's robust BMS (battery management system) provided multi-protection at both the cell level and system level. Multiple PowCubes could be installed to boost storage capacity. 

However, being such a small battery in terms of capacity (4.56kW usable), the cost per warranted kilowatt-hour worked out to be higher than many of its larger, and at that point, better-known competitors. The low power rating (3kW) also held it back.

Sungrow SBR HV

The next and current Sungrow home battery solution available in Australia is the SBR HV, and this has been a game-changer for the company. 

The SBR HV is a stackable system offering 3.2kWh usable capacity in each module. The minimum system capacity is 9.6kWh (3 modules), which is expandable to 25.6 kWh - and up to 4 of these battery systems can be connected in parallel. The SBR HV also offers much better power ratings than the PowCube - for example, 5.76 kW for the 9.6 kWh stack, 7.68 kW for the 12.8 kWh and 9.6 kW for 16 kWh systems.

SBR HV cells are based on lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO) technology, widely regarded as the safest of all commercially available lithium-ion chemistries.

Among the other positive attributes of the SBR HV is price; working out to be among the cheapest on a cost per warranted kilowatt-hour basis.

Like the PowCube, the SBR HV is only compatible with Sungrow hybrid inverters - which are also reasonably priced and appear to be of good quality. Combined, these provide off-grid capability.

For further specifications and estimated pricing, see Sungrow solar batteries listed on our comparison table.

In a vote of confidence for the SBR HV, Sungrow scored 2nd place in SolarQuotes' Installers' Choice Awards 2022 in the budget/best value home battery category. In the SQ 2023 awards for home batteries, Sungrow attained bronze in the best overall battery brand category, gold in the best value battery category, and silver in best after-sales support.

Sungrow is currently listed as an SQ recommended home battery brand.

Sungrow Battery Warranty

As with most home batteries, the product warranty is 10 years. The performance warranty guarantees the SBR HV will maintain at least 60% of the battery's capacity at ten years from installation or for the minimum energy throughput, whichever comes first. The minimum energy throughput for the 9.6kWh is 40.32MWh, for 12.8kWh it's 53.76 MWh and for the 16kWh, 67.20 MWh. Something to watch out for in the Sungrow SBR warranty is temperature range.

While headquartered in China, Sungrow has had a local office in Sydney since 2012, so hopefully any warranty issues that may arise can be dealt with rapidly and locally.

Australian Sungrow battery system owners are encouraged to share their views on how their systems are performing by submitting a rating and review.