Verantum and Yotta Energy turning commercial buildings into VPP resources
Building intelligence firm Verantum has partnered with energy solutions company Yotta Energy in a bid to turn commercial buildings around North America into flexible grid resources.
The collaboration aims to leverage Yotta’s rooftop energy storage solutions and Verantum’s building optimization software, officials say. The combination of the two will allow multi-site operators to lower energy costs by putting unused roof space to work creating a virtual power plant (VPP) solution using commercial properties.
“Commercial operators have wanted storage for years, but adding it usually turns every site into a construction project,” says Yotta Energy CEO Jordan Harris. “Our solution deploys with the solar array and streamlines every aspect of the project. Together with Verantum, we generate, store, and optimize electricity at the point of demand, and all our customers will see is the savings.”
Verantum’s current commercial property platform serves over 42,000 buildings across every major utility service territory, the company says. Combined with the Yotta Block storage product, the two have a goal to enroll 5 GW of VPP capacity across North American commercial buildings through their partnership.
Once complete, the partnership will coalesce enough electricity to power nearly 4 million homes around North America, representatives say. Arriving at a crucial moment for grid buildout and distributed energy resources, the collaboration aims to strike while the flexible generation iron is hot.
A twofold solution
Yotta Energy officials say grocery chains, retailers, and other multi-site commercial properties manage potentially thousands of energy assets per day. And yet, these sites have been slow adopters of solar and storage, thanks to the need for both bespoke engineering and dedicated ground space at each site, both of which make storage infeasible across such large portfolios.
Yotta’s partnership with Verantum “attacks the problem from both directions,” the companies say, utilizing both Yotta’s solar and storage products, and the building’s load itself. Verantum uses energy optimization technology for the equipment on a large part of its commercial buildings, while Yotta’s batteries install on the roof as part of the solar asset.
Together, these solutions let buildings shift when they use grid power, and when they use on-site storage, the firms say.
“Our customers rely on Verantum not only to maintain comfort and protect critical systems, from the sales floor to the cold case, but also to continuously optimize their HVAC-R assets to reduce energy expense,” says Verantum CEO Ryan Adelman. “Partnering with Yotta is the logical next step, giving customers relief from rising utility costs while providing flexibility to the grid.
“Combining our zero-capex demand management capabilities with a best-in-class behind-the-meter energy storage system delivers superior economics and a scalable model for multi-site operators.”
For commercial operators, Yotta says the combined solution “can easily shift more than 70% of utility consumption to on-site generation.” Not only does this provide lower carbon emissions and operational resilience, but the practice allows for flexible power purchase agreements and loan options delivering between 15% and 20% lower costs.
Verantum and Yotta Energy will begin with pilot deployments in early 2027, the companies say.
