From Solar to Smarter Energy: Sungrow Upgrades Warnertown Solar Farm for Greater Flexibility
- Written by: Daily Bulletin
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WARNERTOWN, Australia,
class="legendSpanClass">Aug. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As South Australia continues to experience increasing renewable energy penetration, grid constraints and volatile wholesale electricity prices, solar asset owners are looking for smarter ways to maximise the value of existing infrastructure. Sungrow, the globally leading PV inverter and energy storage system provider, has completed a hybrid retrofit at Warnertown Solar Farm, demonstrating how existing PV systems can be seamlessly upgraded with DC-coupled energy storage to improve energy utilisation and operational flexibility without requiring a full site rebuild.
Previously operating with 30 Sungrow SG110CX PV inverters, the Warnertown site has upgraded six of the PV inverters with SH110CX hybrid inverters, each paired with a 200kWh Powerkeeper, delivering a total of 1.2 MWh of new storage capacity.
A Smarter Path to Grid Compliance and Cost Efficiency
South Australia's strict grid compliance rules often require lengthy approvals and transformer upgrades when adding AC‑coupled batteries. Sungrow's DC‑coupled hybrid solution helps minimise these challenges and supports a smooth integration.
By integrating storage directly on the DC side, the Warnertown upgrade avoids transformer modifications, reduces project complexity, and significantly lowers investment costs, enabling faster deployment and stronger commercial returns.
"Every site comes with different constraints, whether it's available grid capacity, transformer limits or site layout. This upgrade shows we can tailor PowerKeeper to fit within those constraints and still deliver strong benefits for the owner." said Rock Liu, Technical Support Engineer of Sungrow.
Maximising Revenue in a Volatile Energy Market
The upgraded system allows the solar farm to operate more intelligently within South Australia's volatile wholesale market. Battery storage can capture surplus solar generation and discharge energy when it is more valuable, helping the asset respond more effectively to changing generation conditions and electricity market signals.
A Smarter Path to Grid Compliance and Cost Efficiency
The compact back‑to‑back layout fits neatly within the existing shelter and required virtually no civil modifications.
"The retrofit was really straightforward. We simply replaced the existing inverters with hybrid units and added the PowerKeeper batteries. The compact design made installation fast and efficient." said Newman Mundy, Co-Founder of Solmech and SMECH.
Strong Collaboration Ensures Smooth Delivery
Sungrow's engineering team worked closely with SMECH Energy to ensure a seamless installation, from early design through commissioning.
"With any new product, there's always a degree of uncertainty. Sungrow's engineering team worked closely with us throughout the project, providing outstanding technical support and making sure everything came together smoothly from installation through commissioning." Jarrad Pangrazio, General Manager of SMECH Energy.
A Practical Model for Commercial Solar
From small commercial businesses to large‑scale solar farms, Sungrow's PowerKeeper solution provides a scalable pathway to upgrade the existing solar assets, helping customers maximise long-term value with a simpler, faster and more economical retrofit approach.
Luly Wang
luly.wang@sungrow-hq.com
Daily Bulletin
