New grid platform facilitates self-consumption of solar power and battery storage
The Valais start-up Evaarist is launching the autarcie.ch network platform for more self-sufficiency in your own solar power production. Battery packs are designed to improve the self-consumption of electricity from rooftop solar systems.
According to a press release,Evaarist is launching a grid platform “for the democratisation of energy self-sufficiency”. The Sion-based start-up wants to enable more owners of existing solar installations to consume more of their solar production themselves. In addition to the autarcie.ch platform for controlling solar power from the roof, Evaarist also offers easy-to-install battery packs.
“Energy self-sufficiency is something that is close to our hearts,” says Loïc Viret. He founded Evaarist 2023 with Julien Morard and Stéphane Curchod. The engineering firm specialises in renewable energies and energy self-sufficiency and launched the autarcie.ch platform as part of the Espace Innothèque at the Foire du Valais 2024, according to the press release.
Evaarist’s considerations were based on the observation that almost 98 per cent of the 240,000 or so existing solar installations in Switzerland are not equipped with batteries. Evaarist offers universal battery systems for solar roofs. A battery pack is installed in parallel with the electricity grid, the solar modules and the existing inverters. “This will make it possible to store and work with additional energy. And above all, the degree of self-sufficiency can be increased to 65 to 85 per cent, compared to 20 to 30 per cent without batteries,” Viret is quoted as saying.
Furthermore, Evaarist wants to bring the material directly from the manufacturer to the customer and the installation will largely be carried out as a “do it yourself” project. Thanks to an agreement with a German importer, autarcie.ch offers battery packs from CHF 5800 for 10 kilowatt hours.
Autarcie.ch is not an anti-blackout system. “But our systems can be equipped to work if the grid fails,” Viret is quoted as saying.