sonnen to deliver 20,000 storage systems to newly-formed „Energy Alliance Italia”

Bergamo, October 23, 2017 – The newly-formed “Energy Alliance Italia” announced today an agreement to install 20,000 sonnenBatteries in Italy over the next 24 months. The alliance consists of the largest and most innovative installers across Italy, including Supersolar, Smile Energy, CDNE, Rex Energy and Sky NRG.

“Italy has outstanding conditions to become a leading European market for energy storage and electricity sharing. Our alliance is an important cornerstone in forming a deep strategic partnership between Italy’s leading installers and sonnen, securing the best technology and production capacity” says Giorgio Mattaliano Belforti, CEO and Chairman of Smile Energy.

The goal of the “Energy Alliance Italia” is to deploy sonnenBatteries to 20,000 Italian households over the next 24 months and set the groundwork needed to create the largest virtual power plant (VPP) in Italy. Households will be able to generate their own electricity with solar panels and store the excess in their sonnenBatteries, making them largely independent from traditional utilities and reducing energy bills by up to 85%.

In addition to reducing energy bills, households will become part of a decentralized energy community in which members share energy with each other. With this technology, already deployed by sonnen in Germany, the U.S. and Australia, Italy will establish its own sonnenCommunity. Members of the sonnenCommunity will become 100% independent from conventional energy suppliers by creating their own, self-sufficient energy network.

“We are one step closer to providing clean and affordable energy for everyone. Our innovative energy sharing platform provides the technology to implement this ambitious project, which is the largest of its kind in Europe”, says Philipp Schröder, Managing Director and Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at sonnen.

Rising electricity prices and falling costs for both PV and energy storage have made Italy the second largest market for solar-based self-consumption, trailing only Germany. High solar-based self-consumption creates the foundation for additional services like grid stabilization and re-dispatch using smart networks of decentralized storage systems - opportunities that sonnen is already pursuing in its country of origin, Germany, and is set to deploy abroad.