sonnen, the global market leader in intelligent residential energy storage, today announced a significant investment in a new North American Innovation Center that combines the company’s U.S. manufacturing operations and product research and development in a single facility. The sonnen InnovationHub is expected to begin production of sonnenBatterie products in the second quarter of 2017, and will enable sonnen to rapidly innovate and produce award-winning sonnenBatterie systems for the U.S. market in one central location in Atlanta, Georgia.
By combining all the U.S. product development and manufacturing capabilities under one roof, the new facility will help sonnen capitalize on its expertise in new product innovation for homeowners, utilities and new business channels and enable the company to quickly ramp up production capacity, ultimately making energy storage more affordable.
“sonnen U.S. has experienced exponential sales growth over the past year, making the sonnen InnovationHub a smart investment to capitalize upon the immense potential of the North American energy storage market,” said Christoph Ostermann, sonnen Group CEO. “We expect that linking our U.S. manufacturing and R&D teams in one facility will increase the rate of product innovation, and enable us to better adapt to the future needs of the high-growth U.S. residential energy storage market.”
Globally, sonnen is building the future of energy by creating the smartest and most efficient smart energy management system. By installing a proven, intelligent network of over 16,000 battery storage systems, the company is leading the way in products and services that are changing the energy landscape. From backup power and solar self-consumption for individual homes to the formation of a virtual clean energy power plant through the aggregation of multiple systems, sonnen is increasing the resiliency of the utility grid and providing customers with an alternative to conventional power sources.
“The U.S. market represents significant opportunity for sonnen as we look to expand and encourage energy independence globally,” said Blake Richetta, vice president of sales for sonnen North America. “We’re seeing a rapidly growing number of homeowners interested in achieving energy independence, and a large portion of those are seeking smart storage and software capabilities for better efficiency and management of their renewable energy output.”
Amidst political uncertainty in the U.S. and abroad, sonnen’s move to a central InnovationHub represents a significant opportunity for the company to contribute to the creation of American manufacturing and electrical and mechanical engineering jobs. sonnen has already begun renovations to the existing facility, creating a custom-designed state-of-the-art facility. The sonnen InnovationHub will bring new clean tech jobs to the Southeast and a sonnen presence to the East Coast, complementing the company’s office in Los Angeles, California.
“It’s gratifying and exciting for us when an innovative technology company like sonnen expands their footprint in Georgia,” said Costas Simoglou, director of the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s Center of Innovation for Energy Technology. “The sonnen InnovationHub is another success story that puts solar energy storage, a very critical part of the solar energy ecosystem, in the spotlight. Our goal is to offer up the state’s economic development assets and provide the resources required to build an environment that puts Georgia at the forefront of the clean energy industry. I look forward to continue working with sonnen as they grow their manufacturing, R&D and engineering teams here in Atlanta.”
sonnen currently develops and manufactures the sonnenBatterie smart energy management systems in Germany, Atlanta and California. Through its sonnenCommunity, energy independent homeowners throughout Europe can produce, store and share their own electricity. sonnen’s latest developments, the sonnenFlat-Box, which connects non-solar customers to the sonnenCommunity and grid services, and the sonnenFlat tariff, which provides community members with energy at $0 for 10 years, are changing the way energy is used. These products represent the next steps in virtual power plants whereby thousands of sonnenBatteries are aggregated into one large storage pool that provides both clean energy to customers and balancing energy for the powergrid in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy.
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