sonnen partners with AutoGrid on new energy storage option

sonnen and AutoGrid Systems have partnered to fully integrate AutoGrid’s flexibility management application suite, AutoGrid Flex, with sonnen’s residential and commercial energy storage technology. Through this partnership, AutoGrid and sonnen will help energy project developers, utilities and other energy service providers better manage, optimize and aggregate sonnenBatterie systems and other distributed energy resources (DERs).

The AutoGrid Flex application suite provides advanced forecasting, real-time controls and scalable architecture to manage large numbers of distributed sonnenBatterie systems in combination with other DERs. This fleet management is key to optimizing the utilization of battery storage capacity for both the local site and the regional grid network, and AutoGrid Flex is already integrated with multiple wholesale markets, including CAISO, PJM and ERCOT, and underpins several of the world’s leading utility DER systems.

“sonnen’s advanced battery storage systems are already accelerating the world’s transition to a more distributed, renewable-friendly energy grid. By providing a platform that enables energy service providers to more easily aggregate these distributed storage systems, we will further accelerate this transformation,” said Amit Narayan, CEO of AutoGrid. “Our new partnership with sonnen will combine AutoGrid Flex software with sonnen’s intelligent battery storage systems, delivering higher project ROI to energy project developers and utilities who are seeking to deploy and manage fleets of DERs.”

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By combining the best-in-class technologies of sonnen’s innovative battery systems and AutoGrid’s fleet management software, energy project developers, utilities and other energy service providers can rapidly monetize storage projects across multiple flexibility value streams by:

• Optimizing self-consumption in real time across multiple factors including peak demand charges and time-varying prices.
• Participating in utility demand response and resource adequacy programs.
• Creating a virtual power plant to participate in wholesale capacity, energy and ancillary services markets.

“In Germany we have seen the value the virtual power plant model provides in balancing energy supply and demand by aggregating our sonnenBatterie systems,” said Christoph Ostermann, CEO of sonnen GmbH. “By adding AutoGrid Flex’s ability to optimize DER assets in support of grid services and wholesale energy programs for the U.S. market, our smart sonnenBatterie energy management systems will accelerate the adoption of a smarter, cleaner utility grid by reducing integration costs, improving ROI and increasing the use of DERs.”

Flexibility Management at the Grid Edge

Designed to optimize all DER asset categories including distributed generation, battery storage, and demand response resources, AutoGrid Flex provides out-of-the-box support for all prevalent grid services and wholesale market programs spanning all customer segments – residential, commercial and industrial – through its three main applications:

• AutoGrid DROMS, an enterprise-grade demand response management system.
• AutoGrid DERMS, a distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) for providing targeted distribution-level grid-services.
• AutoGrid VPP, a virtual power plant (VPP) solution for participation in wholesale markets.

— Solar Builder magazine

[source: http://solarbuildermag.com/news/sonnen-partners-with-autogrid-on-new-energy-storage-option/]