sonnen forms strategic alliance for energy storage systems with the government of South Australia
The state of South Australia will subsidise the purchase of solar power and energy storage systems with over 100 million dollars. With sonnen as its technology partner, the project plans to establish the world’s largest virtual battery. sonnen will also invest in a new production facility in South Australia; for its part, the government will support the purchase of locally produced storage batteries.
Wildpoldsried, February 27, 2018 – sonnen has reached an agreement with the government of the state of South Australia to build a production facility for storage batteries in Adelaide. The aim is to equip 50,000 households with a photovoltaic system and storage battery within five years. This would give the region the highest density of energy storage systems in the world.
The government of South Australia will establish a fund of AUD 100-150 million to provide financial incentives for the installation of photovoltaic systems in conjunction with a storage battery. The programme will extend special advantages to storage batteries manufactured in South Australia.
'We are delighted that the government has decided to give particular support to products produced in South Australia. This is the first time that a government has promoted such a large-scale project for clean energy and storage batteries. We are proud that sonnen is on board as the partner for the storage battery technology and can thereby help accelerate the shift from fossil fuels to clean energy,' says Philipp Schröder, Sales and Marketing Director at sonnen.
sonnen will also link the households to create a virtual power plant encompassing tens of thousands of systems. This virtual storage pool will be able to store surpluses in the power grid and then feed this energy back into the system when energy demand is high, creating the world’s largest virtual battery.
South Australia was the hardest hit by the spike in electricity prices in summer 2017, which saw rates at peak times exceeding 40 cents/kWh. By producing its own electricity, a household can cut its energy costs substantially.
South Australia aims to cover 75% of its energy demand with power from renewable sources by 2025. Of that, 25% is to be covered by storage batteries.
In addition to building the new production facility, sonnen will also move its Australian headquarters from Sydney to Adelaide. There the company plans to create 130 new jobs, bringing a total of around 430 new jobs to the region. The new production facility will also serve as the distribution hub for sonnen’s markets in New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region.