Trinabess Battery: An Independent Review by Solar Choice

trinabess

Background on Trinabess – Company History

Gao Jifan started Trina Solar in 1997. As a solar pioneer, Trina Solar assisted in transforming the solar industry, quickly expanding from one of China’s earliest PV businesses to a global leader in solar technology and manufacturing.

Trina Solar, a global pioneer in photovoltaic (PV) modules and intelligent energy solutions, offers PV products, applications, and services to help the world achieve sustainable development. Moreover, Trina Solar continues to advance the PV market by increasing the grid parity of PV electricity and popularizing renewable energy via continuous innovation. Trina’s goal is to promote worldwide renewable energy development in the interest of all humanity.

In recent years, Trina Solar’s technological advancements and cost-cutting initiatives have played a significant role in the fast growth of commercial and residential power plant projects that achieve grid parity. Take a virtual tour to witness this cutting-edge technology in action.

Trina Solar supplied more than 70 GW of solar modules globally as of December 2020 and was named one of China’s “Top 500 Private Enterprises.” Furthermore, Trina’s downstream business also covers solar PV project development, constructions, design, finance, operations, and management, as well as one-stop system integration solutions for clients. Trina Solar has linked more than 5GW of solar power facilities to the global grid. It has also initially introduced the Energy IoT brand in 2018 and now aspires to be a worldwide leader in intelligent energy.

Moreover, Trina Solar strives to establish industry norms and benchmarks for performance and sustainability via a dedication to innovative research and development. Since 2011, a firm has set 21 world records for silicon cell efficiency and solar module power output and is responsible for numerous global advancements.

Furthermore, Trina was the first to obtain UL’s Client Test Data Program (CTDP) accreditation, enabling us to confidently perform cutting-edge research on campus.

Basics of Trinabess Lithium Batteries

Powercube

If the word “Trina” seems familiar, it’s because it’s a prominent solar panel producer. Trinabess is the company’s first effort into solar battery storage. This company manufactures hybrid and retrofit battery systems for grid-connect and off-grid applications.

Trina’s product in Australia is the Power Cube, a 9.6kWh (8.64kWh) battery system with an AC battery converter dubbed “Powerbox” – however, it still needs a solar inverter as per their datasheet

Moreover, in the overwhelming majority of instances, a new-generation solar battery represents a substantial financial expenditure, even with a subsidy if you reside in an area of Australia that provides one.

Furthermore, because energy storage is a newer technology than solar panels, you should gather as much helpful information as possible during your study before making an energy storage purchasing choice.

They have a working temperature of -20 to 50 degrees Celsius which make them suitable to withstand the hot environmental extremes of Australia safely. On that point, they’re developed with lithium ion phosphate which is well known for their chemical safety with batteries, as well as providing a long cycle life.

Rated IP54 they’re designed to be used for both indoor and outdoor use which makes them versatile.

It’s only compatible with Trina’s PowerCube battery inverter only.

Trinabess Battery – Key Featurestrinabess powercube

There are a number of features of the Trinabess battery worth mentioning:

Compact size

The Trinabess Powercube battery is designed to be compact and portable. The Powercube dimensions are 600mm x 530mm x 210mm (W x H x D).  So, if you have limited space in your household, this is a big plus. At 65kg, these batteries are average in weight for the market, which makes them easy to install and move if required. It has easy installation with estimated setup time of 2 hours. 

Flexible Use:

Designed to be retrofitted to existing solar panel installations. This makes it very versatile for those who want to initially start with a grid based solar system with the option to expand in the future to a hybrid system to meet their energy requirements.

Scalable Capacity

As we’ve mentioned, these batteries can be connected in parallel in order to scale the nominal capacity of your storage system. The advantage with this, is that it gives you the flexibility to expand your solar energy storage in the future. This may be useful if you’re finding that you’re finding your battery stretched with your night time use of appliances. It’s not clear from their documentation the maximum modules that can be connected, so we’ve reached out to Trinabess.

Outdoor rated IP54 for PowerCube

This enables you to have to option to install the unit outside your house which is handy if you have limited space. Especially useful if you want to scale the units in parallel for expanded storage capacity.

How Much Do Trinabess Batteries Cost?

We’ve reached out to Trinabess to find out the wholesale cost of their batteries. We’ll update this section once we hear back from them.

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Australian Warranty Terms for Trinabess Powercube Battery

The Trinabess PowerCube 2.0’s battery performance and capacity are guaranteed to meet minimum energy throughput and capacity requirements or for a term of ten years, whichever comes first. Battery capacity depletes over time due to the Normal Degradation of Lithium-Ion battery cells, covered by this Limited Warranty and quantified by the statements below. The following conditions apply to this Limited Warranty:

  • Discharge current not exceeding the nameplate capacity divided by 0.048 x 0.5Amps.
  • The battery is never discharged below 90% of its remaining capacity, operating outside the ambient temperature range (does not exceed 0ºC and 40ºC)
  • It cannot be installed at a location that will be exposed to a temperature of more than 50ºC
  • Being established and operating in conjunction with a suitable inverter that can interface with and be controlled by the PowerCube 2.0’s Battery Management System

The warranty documentation isn’t clear who you can make a claim for and there’s no information on authorised Australian distributors. But you may try contacting Trina directly:

Trina Energy Storage Solutions (Jiangsu) Co.,Ltd.
Address: No. 2 Tianhe Road, Trina PV Industrial Park, New District, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China 213031
website: www.trinaenergystorage.com
Tel:(+86)0519-85176686

Review Trina’s warranty document here.

Powercube Specifications

 Powercube Module
Usable Capacity4.8kWh – 9.6kWh
System Nominal Voltage (AC)48V
Max. Output Power9.6kWh
Operating voltage range (single-phase system)40 – 60 V
Nominal voltage (three-phase system)48 V
Operating voltage range (three-phase system)44.5V – 54V
Battery Cell TechnologyLithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4)
Dimensions (W x H x D)
515 x 610 x 192mm
Indoor/OutdoorBoth (IP54)

Read About Home Battery Government Schemes Across Australia

South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, and Australian Capital Territory all currently have a home battery scheme in place.

The South Australian Home Battery Scheme enables eligible South Australian residents to receive up to $4,000 per installed battery.

The New South Wales Home Battery Scheme offers an interest-free loan up to $9000 for eligible households looking to install a solar battery.

The Victorian Government under the Solar Homes Program provides to those eligible, a maximum discount of $4,174 off the battery sale price. The next release of battery rebates is on the 2nd of September 2020.

The Australian Capital Territory Government under the Next Generation Energy Storage program provides a rebate of $825 per kilowatt (kW). An average household with a 5kW system would be eligible for approximately $4,000.

Read more product reviews from Solar Choice

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Since 2008 our knowledge and sophisticated software has allowed over 300,000 Australian households and businesses to make a well-informed choice on their solar & battery installer.
Jeff Sykes

Reviews from Australians who have installed Trina Batteries

Rated 5.00 from 1 review
20th March 2024
QLD - 4860
15-20kW system
5.00