Transforming Energy Storage in Sub-Saharan Africa with Jinko SunGiga ESS
As Sub-Saharan Africa continues to embrace renewable energy solutions, Jinko Solar is transforming energy storage with its SunGiga ESS, simplifying installation, extending battery life, and empowering local technicians through world-class training. In this interview, Desmond Rotich, Jinko ESS Technical Service After-Sales Supervisor for East Africa and SADC, shares insights on the installation, commissioning, and support of SunGiga systems, as well as strategies for building local technical capacity and maintaining consistent service standards across the region. With demand for reliable, scalable energy solutions growing, Jinko remains committed to driving adoption and delivering sustainable impact for communities and businesses alike.
- Can you walk us through your typical process for installing and commissioning a Jinko ESS solution like SunGiga in the region?
The process of achieving a successful installation and commissioning of a Jinko ESS solution commences right from the time the opportunity comes up. The critical information of the project is collected through a survey questionnaire ensuring all the important details are collected by our pre-sales team. The tailored solution is then proposed and shared with the customer. Once the project is onboarded, the customer is trained on the installation requirements ahead of the delivery of the unit and the checklist before commissioning can commence. The customer is then supported throughout the installation. Once ready, the system undergoes testing & commissioning as per the project requirements.
- What are the key technical or logistical challenges you often encounter during commissioning and how do you overcome them?
The main challenges experienced during commissioning include realisation of the actual project objectives as detailed in the survey questionnaire. This is mitigated by reviewing the project design details before installation and sharing timely feedback. Another challenge includes the onsite installation technical requirements such as offloading & installation area preparation. These challenges are managed by offering pre-installation training and sharing the best practices and examples for the customer design considerations. Active project check-ins are undertaken throughout the project cycle to ensure everything is aligned.
- How has SunGiga changed the game in terms of installation time, ease of commissioning, and long-term reliability?
Jinko SunGiga solution brings an aspect of flexibility of C&I Energy storage systems. This includes the capability of ESS expansion and integration with the various energy sources for off-grid, hybrid and AC-coupled systems. All the elements of the Sungiga ESS are assembled in the factory with the solution coming in as a single cabinet requiring only the DC power cables, communication and auxiliary power cables to be connected on site. These items are also supplied with the shipment. This ensures that only these connections are the main activities to be undertaken during the installation process. The other items are system configurations which is undertaken by Jinko after-sales support team and is achievable within a short period of time ensuring the system can be tested and commissioned smoothly. The Sungiga ESS system offers liquid cooling technology which improves the life cycles of the batteries by an additional 10% from traditional air-cooled systems.
- What kind of feedback are you receiving from local technicians and partners working with SunGiga in real-world conditions?
SunGiga has been welcomed by many local partners and technicians due to the benefits of ease of expansion (100kW to 2MW and 215kWh to 8.6MWh) and the little on-site installation requirements. This also includes the various safety features that come packed into the solution such as gas-based fire suppression systems and deflagration suppression system. These are besides the small area needed for installation as side by side layout is supported.
- What are the most common post-installation issues you deal with, and how do you manage remote vs. on-site support?
The main post-installation issues that come up are usually related to alarms and warnings that are reported on the system. These are usually self-clearing or can require onsite intervention. During the commissioning process, an in-depth training is undertaken to the owner/operator of the system to ensure that they can intervene when remote support is being undertaken. For extreme conditions, Jinko after-sales team need to visit site to intervene to close out on the issues as per the warranty terms. Both options can be adopted to ensure fast turnaround time and less downtime of the ESS System.
- Can you share an example of a major support challenge and how your team resolved it quickly and effectively?
There is a particular example of a system that experienced downtime in a location where internet connectivity was not available. The remote support via internet connection would not be possible. To resolve the issue, we shared an in-depth Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) including videos to resolve the issue. The client was able to go through it and while onsite successfully resolved the issue in time.
- How do you manage and train your technical teams across multiple countries while maintaining Jinko’s service standards?
Jinko ESS undertakes webinars covering the various aspects of the Jinko ESS systems and are organised occasionally across various regions. There are also training offered to customers who are keen on adopting ESS in future projects. These methods ensure that all the technical materials are shared and any questions/clarifications are clarified.
- What strategies do you use to build local technical capacity and ensure consistent installations across Sub Saharan Africa?
Jinko ESS continues to build local technical capacity through partnership with various distributors in the region. This is done through service partnership agreements where they can offer direct support to the customers in collaboration with Jinko. These partners are trained on handling Jinko ESS equipment.
- Which countries in your region are leading in ESS adoption, and what’s driving demand there?
There is a uniform and steady adoption of ESS in the region. Nigeria and Kenya were first to adopt Jinko ESS systems in the region. However, recently there is an increase in ESS interest across all the countries in the region (Zimbabwe, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Mozambique ,Tanzania and South Africa). There is an increase of demand in the region due to a welcomed approach of ESS technology to meet energy demand requirements and the reducing costs of ESS technology making a good case for adoption.
- How do you adapt your approach in areas with limited infrastructure or complex regulatory environments?
We always strive to ensure that all the projects are delivered successfully as per the requirements across all regions despite the various challenges that come with it. To achieve this, it would be required to be flexible in the approach of achieving successful installation and commissioning. This can be through a tailored training session to the customer or having the customer visit an active site for a general walk through of all the requirements. A remote session can then be undertaken together with tailored SOPs to achieve successful installation and commissioning.
- What innovations in ESS technology or service are you most excited about in the coming years?
The liquid cooling technology is a game changer in ensuring that ESS systems can guarantee much longer service life. There are also evolutions in increasing the cell capacity increasing the energy density for future cabinet solutions. The local monitoring platforms offer data useful which when integrated with the online monitoring platforms (integrated with AI) ensuring useful information is availed to the ESS users. These opportunities that come with these innovations will be revolutionary.
- Where do you see the biggest opportunities for Jinko ESS to expand and make an impact in Sub-Saharan Africa?
Jinko ESS continues its mission to be the preferred ESS solutions supplier in the region. There are emerging opportunities in Zambia, DRC and even in Madagascar to provide cheaper energy for mining and tourism sectors.
