Sonnen and Wasatch Energy Group are deploying a series of residential virtual power plant projects in California. The Wasatch California Virtual power plant fleet 1 and 2 will outfit some 3,000 residential apartment homes with solar generation and Sonnen intelligent battery energy storage. In aggregate, the project is set to become the largest apartment-community-based virtual power plant fleet in the world upon its 2021 completion. The project boasts over 60 MWh of energy storage capacity and over 24 MW of power capacity and will be funded by $130 million in capital from Wasatch and external investors.
In total, the Wasatch California virtual power plant Fleet 1 and 2 will include seven Wasatch Premier Communities, located throughout the state of California. The first solar-and-storage retrofit work begins in September 2020 at the 417-unit Heron Pointe apartment community in Fresno with Soleil Energy, the new engineering, procurement and construction company established by the Wasatch Group, for its ongoing virtual power plant deployments.
Tech details
The Wasatch California VPP fleets will all feature sonnen ecoLinx intelligent battery storage systems. Individual sonnen systems within each community will be capable of communicating with each other as a single intelligent battery asset, harmonizing and optimizing the community’s solar production, grid usage, and individual apartment loads. The VPP projects are also built for participation in the California demand response market and other grid services. The VPP fleets will ensure resiliency for every resident of the community by providing access to the onsite solar energy and batteries, which act as constantly-regenerating, clean, and reliable energy supply.
The intelligent sonnen ecoLinx battery used in this project serves as the cornerstone of the US SonnenCommunity virtual power plant platform. The system is purpose-built for performance as an ultra-long-lasting grid asset and as the home-automation nucleus of the residential energy system.
“It has been an honor to partner with the Wasatch Energy Group and now Soleil Energy, to help develop these truly extraordinary projects,” said Blake Richetta, Chairman and CEO of Sonnen, Inc. USA. “These projects are the result of two years of hard work, planning and dedication to the mission of building a cleaner, more reliable and secure energy future for humanity.”
The Wasatch Group and sonnen previously partnered with the local utility, Rocky Mountain Power, to develop the Soleil Lofts virtual power plant, a 600-unit solar and storage-equipped apartment community in Herriman, Utah which is now being utilized for utility grid management by Rocky Mountain Power.
— Solar Builder magazine
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