Dive Brief:
- Sonnen on Wednesday announced the launch of a new home energy management system to unify automation, distributed generation and storage with smart load control to optimize residential energy use.
- Sonnen says its new system can be scaled from 10 kWh to 20 kWh of storage capacity, and includes smart circuit breakers with cloud-based connectivity. The company wants to develop more "efficient load-monitoring and remote communication" for the residential sector.
- Falling prices have made energy storage increasingly attractive to residential customers. A report earlier this year from EnergySage found almost three-quarters of solar shoppers said they were also considering a home battery system.
Dive Insight:
As more technologies become viable and accepted into the residential environment, a key capability will be in tying together all aspects of the smart home: from charging electric vehicles with solar panels, to using energy storage for efficient load management.
Sonnen's announcement yesterday, of its "all-in-one ecoLinx smart energy management system" is an attempt to develop a unified theory of home energy management.
Blake Richetta, Sonnen's senior vice president, believes "the energy industry has been tinkering around with quasi home automation and 'smart home' products that cannot truly provide the performance required of a grid level solution," he said in a statement.
Sonnen's new offering is an all-in-one system that can be scaled from 10 kWh to 20 kWh of storage capacity, and includes smart circuit breakers with cloud-based connectivity, which the company says will provide "efficient load-monitoring and remote communication."
Sonnen has made multiple announcements in the residential space and earlier this year scored a $70 million commitment from Shell Ventures towards its international expansion.
Sonnen has been working to develop virtual power plant communities and in 2016 launched the first sonnenCommunity. Homes are capable of communicating and sharing electricity, and the entire system can function as a virtual power plant capable of interacting with the wider electric grid.
Last year 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.
