Shoals Technologies Outlines Data Center Demand for Battery Storage and DC-Side 'Recombiner' Products

Executives detail how battery energy storage systems are evolving to serve data centers' power needs, including for AI training environments.

Apr. 1, 2026 at 3:05am

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Shoals Technologies Group (NASDAQ:SHLS) executives used a Barclays-hosted webinar to outline how battery energy storage systems (BESS) have evolved, why demand from data centers is drawing increased attention, and how the company's DC-side 'recombiner' products fit into several storage use cases. The discussion covered the growth of longer-duration storage, the need for BESS to address 'GPU ripple' and voltage stability in data centers, and Shoals' differentiation in providing customized, high-volume DC-coupled solutions.

Why it matters

As data centers continue to expand to support growing AI and cloud computing demands, the need for reliable, high-power battery storage systems has become increasingly important. Shoals' DC-coupled recombiner products position the company to capitalize on this emerging market, which the company sees as a significant growth opportunity compared to its traditional solar-plus-storage and grid-firming applications.

The details

Shoals executives outlined how battery storage has evolved from smaller AC-coupled systems to larger, more 'bankable' multi-megawatt DC-coupled installations. They highlighted new use cases in data centers, where BESS can provide ride-through power and grid-buffering services to address fast power fluctuations and voltage stability issues, particularly in AI training environments. Shoals' DC-coupled recombiner products were positioned as a key solution, offering advantages in areas like augmentation planning, protection, and cost savings. The company also discussed plans to further consolidate components into skid-mounted power electronics.

  • Shoals' sales cycles for solar-plus-storage and grid-firming applications typically run 9-24 months.
  • Data center-related BESS deployments also fall in the 9-18 month sales cycle range.

The players

Jeff Tolnar

President of Shoals Technologies Group.

Kishan Ponnadurai

BESS Product Line Manager at Shoals Technologies Group.

Matt Tractenberg

VP of Finance and Investor Relations at Shoals Technologies Group.

Christine Cho

Clean tech analyst at Barclays.

Shoals Technologies Group

A leading provider of electrical balance-of-system (BOS) solutions for the solar energy industry, including junction boxes, combiner boxes, cable assemblies, power distribution units, and monitoring systems.

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