Sonnen and Wasatch Energy Group announced a commitment to deploy a series of residential virtual power plant (VPP) projects in California. The Wasatch California VPP Fleet I and II 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 VPP 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 VPP Fleet I and II will include seven Wasatch Premier Communities, located throughout the state of California. The first solar + storage retrofit work begins in September 2020 at the 417-unit Heron Pointe apartment community in Fresno with Soleil Energy, the new EPC company established by the Wasatch Group, for its ongoing VPP deployments.
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 U.S. sonnenCommunity VPP 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.
The Wasatch California VPP fleets represent a pioneering new effort by Utah clean energy visionaries, Dell Loy Hansen and Ryan Peterson. Hansen is the founder of a broad conglomerate of Utah-based companies known as the Wasatch Group. “We should create sustainable living for today and the future,” said Hansen. “We believe it’s our responsibility now, and we can make a difference with this revolutionary approach to clean, renewable energy systems that work brilliantly for everyone involved.”
“This has been an unbelievable journey and one of the most complicated projects I’ve worked on,” said Ryan Peterson, president and managing partner of Wasatch Energy Group. “However, we are committed to solving energy issues across the country, using clean, renewable and reliable energy systems in partnership. We believe in it for everyone and that’s why we’ve made it this far. We can’t wait to show the world what we’ve created.”
“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 VPP, 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.
