sonnen: changing the way we buy, store, and sell electricity

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Blake recitta, vice president of sales at sonnen, a residential energy storage company that is starting to focus on the USS.
Market in 2015.
Richetta has briefly served as Tesla\'s North American Powerwall sales manager and has a broad background in lighting control (
Working in Lutron for more than 15 years)
Learn about an automated home environment.
Focus on the residential market and create energy communities where regulations allow sonnen to be an interesting company for many reasons: first, the company decided to focus only on the residential market and support solar installation to improve the customer\'s self-ability
Consumption-electricity generated onsite.
It has no direct intention of looking at the grid
Extend the app or pursue
Business/industrial market.
Second, the company has made significant progress in selling its residential storage systems-now with 18,000 grids --
Bundling renewable energy storage systems together
More than a dozen countries around the world (
Mainly in Europe, with Germany accounting for 12,000).
Third, perhaps most unique, sonnen implements the new concept of \"energy communities\" in which members buy and sell electricity from each other-a whole new way of dealing with electricity.
The market is not as you think, arerihetta said, the strongest in the United StatesS.
The residential storage market is not necessarily what people think.
Most observers may expect strong markets to be seen in places that look good on paper, states with high solar penetration, or places that make clear policy or regulatory approvals for batteries, such as California and Hawaii.
In fact, this is not the source of wages.
At least no soil has been found yet.
The number of buyers in other regions is large, the incentive and economic factors are small, and they are greatly affected by other factors.
Richetta observed that those firstto-
Market buyers tend to be more \"eco-friendly\"
Rich-
Hope for energy security and independence and real carbon emissions
A neutral way of lifeSo (
Maybe amazing)
Utah and Nevada are major markets (
Nevada\'s cancellation of net metering provides a better reason for the state\'s solar storage).
Once sonnen sells an initial system to a community, the chances of selling more units are greatly increased.
This is the result of a phenomenon known as a \"cluster\" or \"contagion\" effect that has been known to sellers of solar panels and electric vehicles for some time.
People who buy cutting-edge \"cool\" products like to tell their neighbors and peers.
Some of them also follow suit, buying and spreading information further.
This is the basic humanity.
Richetta commented, \"If you get an early adop, they buy it and then tell a friend and then you have a dealer/installer who has done it three or four times.
The initial beachhead position was crucial.
\"It is very important to find early adopters at this stage.
If you have 50 systems deployed in one region, this is a big deal.
\"Sonnen has recently seen enough buyers interested in the United States. S.
The company invests in building the sonnen innovation center in Georgia
2017 in the second quarter-
Their house-
Housing development and production in the United StatesS.
Sonnen does not produce its own batteries and has no plans to do so in the future.
Instead, the company uses Sony\'s phospate on lithium-ion battery (
Sony is selling its battery business to Japanese electronics parts maker Murata, although sales expected to end in April are now delayed until July 2017).
Products and Technologies: Focus on life cycle cost sonnen storage products sonnbatterie has two kilowatts-hour (kWh)
Module, the minimum unit is sold from 4 KW hours, up to 16 KW hours.
This is a more expensive product than nickel. manganese-cobalt (NMC)-
The basic system offered by competitors such as Tesla, but Richetta said it can also last for many years, with low cost per battery cycle.
Richetta noted that sonnen\'s battery is advantageous compared to Tesla\'s NMC battery for fixed storage Powerwall products, and that many electric car manufacturers have deployed NMC on their cars
He claims that the NMC batteries are low in price, but there is one major drawback: they are only suitable for one to 2000 cycles.
\"This is perfect for electric cars.
\"It\'s very energy intensive and super light, and you need it to be light for an electric car,\" he said . \".
By contrast, Richetta says Sony\'s sonnbatterie battery can offer 13-
14,000 cycles, warrantied in 10,000 cycles (
It should be noted that Tesla\'s Powerwall 2 has 10-
Annual warranty, but does not specify the number of cycles).
Richetta suggests that the way to consider sonnenBatterie is to consider the cost of the services provided during the life of the product.
If the total kWh is considered (kWh)
This can be stored and released in 10,000 cycles, about 14 cents per kilowatt hour, \"equivalent to an electric car battery.
\"With the added advantage, you don\'t have to change the battery as often as you normally do.
Cycle is related to solar energy and self
For grid stabilization or deployment in-
Venues in the commercial/industrial sector (
Mainly to reduce the cost of expensive utilities per month)
Usually there is no need to transmit energy as frequently as before.
They are often required to provide energy and capacity in a shorter period of time, and are deployed at a lower frequency-often to avoid using energy or stabilizing the grid during peak hours.
Lower cycle life may be more acceptable in these applications.
In contrast, customers want to replenish and maximize the output value of solar panels and store solar energy per hour for themselves
Consumption will heavily depend on batteries that can cycle more frequently.
This is an energy game focused on kilowatts.
Hours, here is the cost per kilowatt.
The number of hours delivered becomes a more important indicator over time.
That\'s one of the reasons sonnen gets this appeal in Germany, where how much solar energy people can deliver to the grid and self-
Storage is an attractive option (
Generous rewards for storage will not hurt either).
Business partner: Richetta comments looking to the future for \"solar progress\"S.
The roof solar industry may put more pressure on the net metering structure (
In this case, roof solar is delivered to the grid and credited at the customer\'s retail price-just like the meter is running backwards).
He speculated that more states might do the same thing as Hawaii.
For a period of time, owners of Hawaiian solar panels were able to export the remaining power back to the grid at a much lower rate.
Currently, in addition to the approximately 20 MW capacity announced in the middleApril (
About 2,800 systems already in the queue)
There is no longer any option to sell surplus power to the grid, the only option is to combine solar energy with storage and selfsupply energy.
Other states may push time. of-use (TOU)rates.
These regulatory structures usually add on-site storage.
So the trick to working with the right Solar business partner is to find what Richetta calls \"solar progressive \".
Progressives are installers who have gone beyond the current net metering world, and they expect some regulatory change to be inevitable as the online volume increases
Solar energy on the site has increased and utility revenue has declined.
\"Let\'s even embrace the changes in net metering and TOU.
\"It\'s good, it\'s good,\" he said . \".
In the future, the sales strategy will also involve more partners, such as highCustom Home-
Builders seeking to differentiate products by increasing renewable energy and storage.
Some production bases
Builders will also enter this category. High-
The ultimate architect and designer is another area to embrace.
Finally, Richetta said the home automation industry, as a business partner, also showed hope.
\"We need to be able to reach home automation integrators.
They control the rich resident Market. they are good sales people.
They sell with emotional connection, vision and passion.
\"Build peersto-
Peer-to-peer energy community switching gears, Richetta addresses peer-to-peer for rapid growth-to-
German peer market.
He explained that, because of the regulations there, it is actually possible to cut utilities completely from transactions between individuals.
Sonnen has effectively played a trading role in Germany.
The economic incentives for participation exist because utilities pay less for the remaining solar energy compared to retail prices.
What Sonnen does in this arrangement is to act as a hub between people who have solar energy surplus (
They used to sell for less than utilities)
Buy some of the remaining B people at full retail prices (
In fact, all the electronics are thrown into a big pool, which is mainly a matter of finance and accounting).
Sonnen is located among the 8 thousand members of the sonnen community in Germany, effectively balancing supply and demand.
Richetta explained that if the supply is insufficient, sonnen will purchase the shortage of goods in the wholesale market (
Other renewable resources).
\"We are administrators and we have aggregate storage systems.
\"We have a third party to help manage all of this and there is no need for utilities anymore,\" he said . \".
The company has also recently launched a product called sonnenFlat.
This concept is growing rapidly, especially among users who are not self-conscious. generate power.
Almost all new customers in Germany have joined sonnenFlat to have sonnen deploy their batteries in exchange for a significant reduction in electricity charges.
Sonnen uses its aggregated storage capabilities to sell services such as frequency regulation, demand response, and even capacity stability
Directly to the grid operator.
Richetta explained, \"We get revenue from electricity bills.
\"To a certain extent, based on the income received, members of the sonnen community may not pay any fees for their power.
In other countries like Italy and the United StatesS.
Can\'t simply cut utilities.
In many cases, the utility partnership is the way forward and other models are being developed for these markets.
Companies should have the resources to take the next step on the planned track.
On last October, sonnen announced the capital raising of $85 million.
Fourth round of financing
This will enable the company to pursue more research and development while further expanding to the United States. S.
And other markets.
Note: This article was updated on April 29 to include more information on the solar policy in Hawaii.