Dive Brief:
- Shell Ventures led the latest investment round, which committed $70 million towards Sonnen's international expansion, according to the energy storage system manufacturing company's announcement.
- Officials say Sonnen and Shell's New Energies division launched a "strategic cooperation agreement" that includes a focus on innovative integrated energy propositions, enhanced electric vehicle charging solutions and the provision of grid services based on Sonnen's virtual battery pool.
- Earlier this year Sonnen unveiled an electric vehicle charger that can integrate with the sonnenCommunity network of battery systems, first launched in Germany.
Dive Insight:
Sonnen has made multiple announcements in the residential storage space in recent months, and says the new funding will allow for more rapid expansion into markets in the United States and Australia. The storage startup is focusing on how to integrate residential storage and electric vehicle charging loads into virtual power plants (VPP), capable of acting as grid resources.
Sonnen launched the sonnenCommunity in 2016, and then in 2017 the company introduced the strategy in Australia and in the first U.S.-based sonnenCommunity in Arizona. The master planned community of "Jasper," in Prescott Valley, Ariz., will utilize 23 MWh of energy storage capacity paired with rooftop solar systems and include 11.6 MW of power input output potential.
In March, Sonnen announced with Itron that the two companies had integrated products to create a residential battery system that will store and discharge energy to keep electric bills low and maximize the use of solar energy.
The residential storage market is expected to continue growing, and more products are being introduced. Earlier this year Switzerland-based ABB rolled out an energy storage solution for residential consumers that offers modular capacity increases, a high-voltage battery for greater efficiency, and flexibility in how the system is installed.
According to CleanTechnica, Sonnen's other funding wins include raising $85 million from GE Ventures and smaller amounts from 2013 to 2015.
