Abundance Energy taps sonnen for virtual power plant in Texas
Sonnen announced another behind-the-meter virtual power plant partnership in Texas, this one involving Retail Electric Provider Abundance Energy and energy tech company Energywell. Abundance Energy customers that install sonnenConnect home batteries (financed by SOLRITE), can earn money by discharging those batteries to support the grid. Discharging those batteries at the right times to maximize earnings is where Energywell comes in.
“The Texas energy landscape is evolving, and this partnership exemplifies the future of distributed energy,” said Michael Fallquist, CEO of Energywell. “By optimizing stored energy, we are reducing reliance on fossil fuels and lowering carbon emissions, building a smarter, cleaner, and more flexible grid.”
VPP snapshot
- The VPP will cover all of ERCOT, with the primary focus in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas
- Each home will have two 4.8kW / 20kWh sonnenCore+20 battery units
- More than 3,000 customers are ready to enroll with Abundance, with an additional 5,000 already committed through SOLRITE
- The current customer base to be enrolled equals 60 MWh, and this will continue to grow each month
Who is Abundance Energy?
Abundance Energy is a digital-native Retail Electric Provider (REP) startup licensed for operations in Texas. Abundance’s products include transparent fixed-rate residential plans and multi-meter Continuous Service Agreement plans for vacant property management with a built-to-purpose CSA customer platform. Abundance is part of the Quext family of companies that includes next-generation LoRaWAN proprietary IoT thermostats and smart locks for the multifamily market.
“Our mission is to empower homeowners with smarter, more sustainable energy solutions,” said Thomas Mandry, CEO of Abundance Energy.
The collaboration empowers Abundance Energy customers to use their sonnenConnect home batteries to support grid stability, ensure reliable energy delivery, and lower electricity costs while driving the development of smart, sustainable energy solutions.
Sonnen + Energywell
Sonnen, a Shell company, has built a home battery designed specifically for grid support. These batteries have performed grid services for many years in Europe, and it is a model that is gaining more traction in the U.S., thanks in large part to SOLRITE. Through SOLRITE Energy’s innovative virtual power plant purchase agreement (VPA) financing model, participants can install solar panels and sonnen battery systems at no upfront cost, lowering barriers to entry for this VPP program. See this article on sonnen’s VPP PPA deal with SOLRITE for more.
Energywell combines the financial strength of funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. and capital and commodities expertise from Hartree Partners L.P. with proprietary technology, the Proton platform, to maximize returns buying and selling energy in the wholesale market. Energywell’s Proton platform uses cloud-native, event-driven architecture to ensure energy solutions scale quickly.
Virtual Power Plant in action
sonnen’s VPP technology intelligently manages energy supply and demand, ensuring stored solar or grid energy is strategically deployed when needed most.
“Our VPP solutions enable customers to actively participate in the energy market while maintaining resilience in their homes,” said Blake Richetta, Chairman and CEO of sonnen. “With Abundance Energy, and Energywell, we’re setting a new standard for residential energy management.”
Energywell’s Proton platform provides advanced forecasting and optimization tools to ensure batteries are dispatched in alignment with market opportunities.
Optimized through the integration of Energywell’s Proton platform with sonnen’s advanced Virtual Power Plant battery control technology, each battery is continuously managed in response to market price signals, customer usage, and solar generation. Networked together, these batteries create a VPP, dynamically balancing energy supply and demand to maximize value for both the grid and the customer.
