sonnen Selected as Battery Provider for Bassett-Avocado Advanced Energy Community
sonnen will provide cutting-edge energy storage to the Los Angeles County community-scale solar project, as part of a broader effort to offer residents scalable, affordable opportunities to make their homes more efficient and resilient while providing local grid services.
March 18, 2021 (Los Angeles, CA) – sonnen, a global market leader in smart residential batteries, today announced it has been selected by The Energy Coalition (TEC) as the energy storage solution provider for the Bassett Avocado Heights Advanced Energy Community (BAAEC), a community-scale energy project in Los Angeles County, CA. The pilot project is backed by a $9 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) and seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of decarbonizing a disadvantaged community (DAC) through access to locally produced renewable energy via solar + battery retrofits of single-family homes.
Fifty homeowners in Los Angeles County’s San Gabriel Valley will be eligible to enroll in BAAEC’s Advanced Homes program to receive renewable energy hardware including sonnen batteries and rooftop solar. Ultimately, the goal of BAAEC’s Advanced Homes is to form a virtual power plant (VPP) capable of providing smart, reliable backup power for individual homes and alleviating congestion on the local grid.
sonnen is joining a group of impactful organizations committed to the common goal of reducing net grid electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring equitable community value. This new effort is also aligned with the broader goals of sonnen’s parent company, Shell, to ultimately provide net zero energy to its customers by 2050. The BAAEC model breaks down traditional barriers of community-scale energy project planning, allowing DACs to benefit from and participate in the transformation of our clean energy future. Partners on the project include UCLA’s Institute of the Environment & Sustainability (IoES), the County of Los Angeles, Clean Power Alliance, Day One, Active SGV, SensorComm Technologies, Aclima, Pivot Energy, greenlots, green commuter, GRID alternatives, Green Convergence, Community Electricity, and Space AI.
“sonnen’s technology and proven track record of leadership in home batteries makes them the ideal choice to provide safe, resilient, intelligent energy storage solutions to BAAEC residents,” said Craig Perkins, President and Executive Director at The Energy Coalition. “Even more important to us is their desire to educate project partners and residents on their technologies and the benefits of solar + storage. With the help of partners like sonnen, we can offer residents the environmental and economic benefits of living in a clean energy community that is focused on empowering them to use these tools to take control of their energy future each day in their own home.”
“We are thrilled to work closely with The Energy Coalition and other forward-thinking organizations, innovators and local leaders on this groundbreaking project, which has far-reaching and long-term implications for community-scale clean energy,” said Blake Richetta, Chairman and CEO, sonnen, Inc., “sonnen’s work with BAAEC represents a major milestone in our effort to advance energy equity throughout the country. Incorporating solar and intelligent storage solutions into existing buildings is a tremendous and necessary step toward a clean energy future that benefits individual residents, larger communities and the broader energy grid. Collaborative projects like BAAEC go beyond the conceptual, pilot phase and showcase how this model can perform at scale, delivering tangible benefits to residents, while helping to improve the local utility infrastructure.”
About sonnen
The sonnen Group is one of the world's leading manufacturers of smart energy storage systems and a pioneer of clean, decentralized and networked energy system technologies. As one of the fastest growing tech companies in Europe, sonnen has received numerous internationally recognized awards. With its virtual battery, which consists of digitally networked home storage systems, sonnen offers new and highly innovative energy services for network operators and customers. sonnen’s products are available in many countries and has offices located in Germany, Italy, Australia, the UK and the USA. Since March 2019 sonnen is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell within its division Renewables and Energy Solutions.
Press Contact
FischTank PR
About The Energy Coalition
The Energy Coalition (TEC) is a California-based 501(c)3 nonprofit with over 45 years of experience designing and implementing strategies that transform energy use, generate capital and inspire people to take responsible energy actions. By bringing ideas, technology, and expertise to public agencies, businesses, educators, and more, TEC is creating the building blocks for a new energy economy. TEC focuses on the following four core service areas: Program Design & Implementation, Education & Workforce Development, Marketing, Outreach & Engagement, and Policy Leadership & Planning. Learn more at energycoalition.org
Press Contact
Meaghan Laverty
