Here’s to a full decade of SMA Altenso
This year, the tenth anniversary of SMA Altenso GmbH (formerly known as SMA Sunbelt Energy GmbH) has been taking place. Since its foundation in the summer of 2014, the subsidiary of SMA Solar Technology AG has established significant milestones as international solution provider for complex PV hybrid, off-grid, grid-connected battery energy storage systems (BESS) and hydrogen (P2G) applications. The company places a strong emphasis on project engineering and significantly benefits from its close relationship with the SMA Group.
Enrique Garralaga Rojas, Managing Director, and member of the founding team, summarizes the development very well: “Following the motto of SMA’s founder Guenther Cramer “Let’s be realistic and try the impossible”, we started ten years ago with a certain degree of innocence, fearless and relentlessly focused on delivering our purpose. Thanks to the continued support from SMA’s executive board, business segments and corporate functions, we were able to develop our company from an innovative start-up of highly intrinsically motivated multicultural friends fighting together for the environment towards what is now a well-established medium sized company and one of the leading system integrators for BESS, P2G and Off-grid/Hybrid on a global scale.” Burkhard Söhngen, Managing Director, who joined the company in early 2018 complements: “We are extremely happy that albeit strong growth and ongoing internationalization, our unique spirit and corporate culture have been successfully passed on and retained by the team, which has grown to almost 100 people with over 20 nationalities. In fact, our great team is the biggest asset that Altenso has today. We are certain that this will also be the major driver for further sustainable growth in the years to come.”
Anniversary design and Managing Directors (f.l.): Burkhard Söhngen and Dr. Enrique Garralaga
Continue reading to discover the company’s commitment to sustainable growth, understand the organizational transformations, and experience its unique team spirit.
Where it all began
On July 30, 2014, the company SMA Sunbelt Energy GmbH was constituted in the commercial register of Germany. The geographical focus of the company’s business activities was supposed to be the global equatorial region with a special focus on Africa. For this reason, the company name “Sunbelt” was chosen.
The first order of the company was received in 2014 and it consisted of one (!) Sunny Island for a nonprofit organization in Ethiopia.
Commissioning of Sunny Islands in India
Company Growth and Diversification
In 2015, the company grew its business mainly by expanding off-grid component sales as a second market segment alongside (PV-diesel) hybrid applications.
The first volume orders of Sunny Island and Sunny Tripower inverters for a micro-grid in Indonesia were then executed in 2015 as well. Moreover, the company established local installer networks in the sunbelt region.
Lighthouse projects, such as an off-grid plant for a tourist resort in the Serengeti National Park, were executed. Due to its reliability, the SMA off-grid system was very often the first choice for electrification projects in remote locations which increasingly also included small batteries. Since 2016, the team has successfully worked on a very special lighthouse project that has grown in three project stages until recently – a solar and battery-based energy system for the Caribbean Island St. Eustatius. Today, the island runs 100% renewables during the daytime and stores the remaining energy in a large battery system with a capacity of over 12 MWh. Most remarkably, SMA solar and battery inverters with innovative features like grid-forming and black-start functionalities could be implemented.
Thereafter, Altenso successfully transferred their project-related knowledge and capabilities into large-scale battery and hydrogen projects, gradually extending their value proposition. As the company’s business focus shifted, it decided to change the company name to SMA Altenso GmbH. The new brand Altenso stands for “Alternative Energy Solutions”.
Commissioning of Project Phase 3, St. Eustatius Island, 2024.
Large-Scale Battery Storage Projects
In 2017, based on the valuable experience of the first stages of project St. Eustatius, the company successfully realized the first large grid-connected battery storage (BESS) project of 50MWh in the UK. While expanding the BESS product and service portfolio, the company executed numerous other large-scale BESS projects for customers in various countries. To date, Altenso has worked on BESS projects with a total capacity of more than 1.5 GW for a broad customer range spanning from strategic investors like utilities or IPPs (Independent Power Producer) to finance & infrastructure investors.
BESS project in Switzerland, 2023.
Power Conversion for Hydrogen Applications
Power rectification and grid integration pose significant challenges in planning and implementing of electrolysis plants, commonly known as power-to-gas applications (P2G). After an excellent cross-functional collaboration between SMA R&D, innovation center and the business segments, the company executed the go-to-market strategy for SMA’s global hydrogen business and entered this promising market at a very early stage in 2020. Based on its experience of large-scale BESS projects, it has since then secured a substantial market share by realizing over 80 projects with a total capacity of approximately 1GW to date. The company’s first hydrogen project was a 2.2 MW plant in New Zealand, which is a showcase for hydrogen export commissioned in 2021. Another hydrogen flagship project executed by the company is a fertilizer plant with 20 MW of electrolyzer capacity in Puertollano, Spain. Commissioned in 2022, the plant, produces up to 3000 t of hydrogen per year.
Fertilizer Plant in Spain, 2022
Expansion along the Value Chain
Based on many successfully executed projects in BESS and P2G, Altenso extended their business model backward and forward on the value chain. In late 2022, the company started to prepare itself for BESS project (co-) development as well as for the turnkey delivery of BESS assets as general contractor (EPC). Leveraging their own experience from project execution around the globe and the local expertise from development and construction partners, Altenso has been able to build up a solid pipeline of more than 2 GW in major BESS markets in Europe and APAC. Additionally, the company has successfully concluded first projects as general contractor/EPC. Just recently, a 26MW/26MWh BESS project in (Germany) was handed over to the customer after having served as general contractor/EPC and longstanding technology partner of the project developer.
BESS project with Altenso as general contractor (EPC) in Germany, 2024
What’s next on the company’s roadmap?
One particularly noteworthy project in the current pipeline involves PV-based hydrogen production with additional battery storage on the coast of Namibia. This unique project will be commissioned in spring next year. It is exceptional for Altenso as the company provides not only system integration for the BESS, but also acts as solution provider for the rectifier system powering the hydrogen production by developing a completely new Energy Management System (EMS) logic. Comparably complex projects will be at the forefront of Altenso’ s future business activities. “Our outstanding technological competence across renewable generation, battery storage and hydrogen production coupled with sound project engineering capabilities will be a key differentiator going forward”, Johannes Weide, Head of Engineering & Technology underlines the upcoming opportunities.
Dr. Jens Eiko Birkholz, Head of Sales & Business Development, and member of the founding team, describes one of Altenso’ s pivotal capabilities: “You need to stay adaptive by moving fast, acting decisively and allowing to make mistakes. This is a key prerequisite for all successful companies, and I am proud to see that this has been very successfully achieved by the team.” Wiebke Krüger, Head of Operations adds: “During all these years, we of course benefited a lot from the strong brand and the unwavering global support provided by our mother company SMA. Given the overall speed of market developments in our exciting industry I honestly do not know where we will be in ten years from now, but I am certain that we will be successful.”
Altenso Management Team, 2024 (f.l.t.r.): Dr. Jens-Eiko Birkholz, Burkhard Söhngen, Johannes Weide, Wiebke Krüger and Dr. Enrique Garralaga
It can be expected that Altenso will significantly leverage its new project development and execution capabilities in the near future. One important milestone is already achieved: Altenso sold its first BESS project, developed from its own greenfield project activities to a strategic investor in September 2024. Prior to this, Altenso acquired land, secured a grid interconnection point, and obtained all necessary building permits from local authorities. The 92.5 MW/231 MWh battery storage facility will be constructed by Altenso in a full EPC setup, including an O&M contract. It will be one of the largest BESS plants in Germany to date. Commissioning is scheduled for Q3 2025.
Greenfield project development for a large-scale battery storage in Germany, 2024
Further project development activities will soon be expanded and internationalized also via strategic partnerships. Dr. Jürgen Reinert, CEO of SMA and Chairman of Altenso’ s supervisory board, concludes: “We are very proud of Altenso’ s journey so far. The team has been working relentlessly over the last decade, always motivated to tackle new projects, and constantly challenging the good for the better. Not only has Altenso contributed to innovation and profitable growth of SMA, but it has also been at the forefront of SMA’s transition from a component manufacturer to a solution provider. We wish the team the best of luck for a prosperous future.”
10 Years, 10 Stories: The company, fully recognizing the true value of its employees, continues its celebrations by highlighting unique success stories shared by team members on LinkedIn. Follow SMA Altenso for more engaging content, project insights and regular company updates, and watch the videos below to dive into lighthouse references.
Sant Eustatius reference video
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