Students at SMA: Popcorn and Inverters – An Unexpected Connection

A group of electronics engineering, industrial engineering, and environmental engineering students from the Braunschweig University of Technology (TU Braunschweig) recently found out what solar inverters and popcorn have in common during a field trip at SMA.

In front of the group, Technical sales manager Manuel März went over the concept of energy self-sufficiency for areas that are too far from the grid to make a connection practicable or cost-effective, as well as over the way a Sunny Island system works. To add a little spark to the proceedings, the training system inside the room was used to demonstrate just how the whole thing works in real life: Six Sunny Island units in a multi-cluster system provided more than enough current to power a microwave and make a bag of popcorn. That was excellent news for the students, who got to enjoy the popcorn while watching a Sunny Island video.

In addition to learning more about how off-grid systems are set up, the students had the opportunity to talk to business opportunity management director Andreas Umland about self-consumption and the associated intelligent energy storage solutions. The title of Andreas’ presentation was “Small Storage Solutions, Enormous Benefits”.

After this, the group went on a tour of the inverter factory, followed by a presentation by our Graduate Recruitment Team that provided general information on SMA and the options available for joining the SMA team.

Trip Fields to SMA

SMA frequently offers electrical engineering and computer science students the chance to take a look at how the company operates in real life. Last year, seven universities took advantage of this offer, and a total of 210 students got to visit our facilities. It’s worth mentioning that these student events are always tailored to the specific group of students visiting us. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the fellow team members who proactively support us during these visits – they wouldn’t be possible without you!