Interview with Mr. Dawid Zajkowski, Fronius International
• Energy • Interview • South-East European INDUSTRIAL Мarket - issue 3/2010
Fronius stands for reliability, flexibility and top-notch quality
Dear Mr. Zajkowski, please present to our readers Fronius, as a company, history, scope of activity and product program?
Fronius International is an Austrian company based in Pettenbach with additional manufacturing sites in the Czech Republic and Ukraine. Fronius has three main divisions Battery Charging Systems, Welding Technology and Solar Electronics. Outstanding products and services make Fronius the technology leader in the world market. The company has more than 2800 employees. Fronius invests 6.8 percent of its total sales of EUR 370 million (fiscal year 2008) in research and development and holds also 585 active patents.
Fronius is a well known producer of high-quality solar electronics. What are your last technological achievements in the field of photovoltaics?
The latest achievements are Fronius TL and Fronius CL inverter but also the adaption to the BDEW norm in Germany that is effective since July. For smaller applications from 3 to 5 kW we rolled out this year Fronius TL which is a transformer-less inverter with EURO efficiency of 97,3 % which is certainly for now the highest in this category.
Fronius TL comes also with USB solution which replace a usual datalogger (so also it costs) and also with an innovative ventilation concept integrated in user-friendly installation functionality.
Fronius CL with a range from 36 to 60 KW is for large scale solar plants. The benefits are the MIXTM concept that gives you the best performance in cloudy days and also in the morning and evening hours as there is no need to energize the whole inverter but only the racks that have enough DC power to invert into AC. In case of trouble Fronius CL inverter gives you the possibility to exchange power racks inside the inverter, so never lose the whole unit in case of malfunction, which brings you more earnings. Generally speaking Fronius CL inverter is a micro-risk insurance unit, which never will let you down completely as it consists out of 15 power racks (each 4 KW). Both inverters TL and CL support of course Fronius Service Partner concept which trainings we offer in our Fronius facilities in Austria in German and English language.
How do you assess the market of grid-connected inverters in Bulgaria?
I think that Bulgaria restarted the PV business again now and will be much stronger in 2011; it was back than in 2009 a promising market but became affected by the credit crunch. Of course the future will depend of the legislation which will be dropped out soon and will find hopefully a positive feedback from the investors. Basically, I see Bulgaria very positive in the next 3 years but also in the remote future, but of course now the government and the Bulgarian banks play a key role.
What is your long-term development strategy for Bulgarian market?
Fronius is a known brand throughout the PV industry when it comes down to inverters. Fronius stands for reliability, flexibility and of course top-notch quality. We want to walk on this way and make sure to hold but also to enlarge our market share with our current but also new partners. As after-sales support is one of most important topics for Fronius we are also about to increase our Fronius Service Partner network, to invite EPC and installers to work together with us on customized solutions for their needs but also to give end customers the necessary high-respond support they are expecting from a state of the art manufacturer like Fronius.
What do you think will be the future trends in the field of photovoltaic technology?
The trends will go definitely in cheaper panels but also new high-efficient technology will become marketable in 3 to 5 years from now, which will open up a new market for us as well, as we want to adapt to these products. Also we are expecting in Europe grid parity by 2015 which will be a big boost for the global PV Industry.
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