“One consequence of the energy crisis has been a huge increase in interest in photovoltaics from households. Unfortunately, this huge demand has attracted new suppliers without any experience to the market, and thousands of people are still waiting in vain for their photovoltaic power plants. This is making customers more cautious, and they want more guarantees. For example, they are wary of paying large deposits upfront. We want to accommodate them and will only require a 10% payment when signing a contract. We want to help restore people's broken trust in photovoltaics,” says Tomáš Kadlec, ČEZ Prodej CEO.
In the first five months of this year, ČEZ Prodej performed 2,100 installations, about 50% more than in the same period last year. ČEZ Prodej is therefore introducing a number of innovations. Those interested in solar panels now pay only a 10% deposit when signing a contract (the market standard is 40% to 50%), and any further payments need only be made after the company has secured a connection to the distribution network and set a date for installation.
ČEZ Prodej is now speeding up the installation process. In most cases, this will be completed within four months. It is helped by the digitalisation of the offer preparation process, which is faster and more efficient thanks to a new app. ČEZ Prodej also guarantees that customers will receive the government subsidy specified in the contract. At the same time, in cooperation with OIG Power, it is expanding its range of battery solutions with the new ČEZ Battery Box 3F Queen.
“The new battery system generation can no longer be seen as a mere product, but rather a complete service for the customer. The new solution aims to make the customer care system as efficient and advanced as possible, which we see as crucial in the coming period - the Queen battery system is thus fully compatible with the continuously monitoring service portal, significantly facilitating and accelerating equipment diagnostics and thus improving customer need evaluations and coverage in the context of service or system expansion. The smart storage system is also suitable for family houses with more complicated roof types. Its passive cooling means it is very quiet and it is ready to use several types of inverters with different outputs. We also took great care to ensure it has an elegant design. It is controlled via an on-line app on a home screen, and offers four different operating modes depending on how the household addresses its energy self-sufficiency in the event of a grid failure,” says Martin Kuba, co-owner of OIG Power.
The minimum capacity of a single device when using a 10 kW inverter is 9.6 kWh, with the possibility of expansion up to 26.4 kW. The system provides the option of connecting more than two sets of photovoltaic panels in serial (strings) in the future. The device is also equipped with all available safety features according to applicable ČSN EN standards. A great advantage is the measurement of both backup and non-backup data (the backup represents the part of the household load supplied by the batteries in the event of a grid failure) individually by phase, which helps to identify possible overloads on a particular phase. The new design also means the installation time has been reduced even further. Queen offers users a sophisticated alarm system, grid failure management, and allows management of the permission or prevention of overflows. The device can be expanded with a wireless DHW module and has a communication protocol for full interconnection with Loxone smart home systems. The new hybrid storage is also ready for future integration into shared energy systems. The ČEZ BATTERY BOX on-line app for remote control and communication with the service portal is a matter of course.
Household interest in connecting photovoltaic panels with batteries remains high. ČEZ Prodej expects the share of installations incorporating battery solutions to be at least 70% this year. One reason for this is that households are purchasing larger solar installations: while the average installed capacity of rooftop photovoltaic panels was 4.8 kWp in 2021, this rose to 6.4 kWp in 2022 and is already 7.3 kWp this year. However, it is still true that the most efficient use of photovoltaics is when as much energy as possible is consumed at the point of generation. The batteries help to efficiently store any energy not consumed immediately.
When choosing a supplier, customers considering purchasing photovoltaics can follow the ‘Ten Commandments’ issued by ČEZ in response to current market events, where some suppliers are not meeting their obligations.
Proven supplier history
Customer references
Transparent costs
Enough time to read the contract
Reasonable deposits
Realistic payback period
Personal on-site visit
Complete technology package
Individual tailor-made offer
Provision of complete administrative work
ČEZ Prodej prepares complete rooftop photovoltaic power plant projects for customers on a turnkey basis, and is able to provide financing, including the processing of the subsidy application. The company supplies technologies for which the manufacturer provides a 25-year warranty that the panels will maintain 85% of their output, a 15-year warranty on the panels themselves, a 10-year warranty on the batteries, and a 5-year warranty on work performed. Customer service tools continue to improve. Thanks, for example, to a new sales app available to customer service centre and call centre employees, and a smart product catalogue, ČEZ Prodej's offer can now be automatically tailored to the customer. The smart product catalogue allows anyone to custom design a power plant for their own roof and choose from 50 variants of the basic package.