Dive Brief:
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German storage company Sonnen has chosen Atlanta, Ga., for its new battery factory and research center.
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Sonnen’s InnovationHub is expected to begin production in the second-quarter 2017 and serve as a platform for the company’s expansion into the North American storage market.
- Sonnen currently manufactures develops and manufactures the sonnenBatterie smart energy management systems in Germany, Atlanta and California.
Dive Insight:
Within a year after Tesla shook up the storage market with the announcement of its Powerwall residential battery, Sonnen began moving into the U.S. residential storage space as well.
The company began forming strategic partnerships with the likes of Enbala and AutoGrid and began selling its version of a virtual power plant based on Sonnen batteries and software.
The company launched sonnenCommunity in its home market, Germany, and early last year began exporting the idea to America.
SonnenCommunity links solar and storage devices into a virtual grid that allows members to trade electricity among themselves and sell excess power into the wholesale market.
Sonnen is now centralizing its battery production and research efforts at a new facility it is renovating in Atlanta.
Sonnen says the new facility will help it capitalize on its expertise in new product innovation for homeowners, utilities and new business channels and enable the company to ramp up production capacity quickly and make energy storage more affordable.
"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," Christoph Ostermann, sonnen CEO, said in a statement.