![]() The initial concept was to build a development powered by solar and batteries, and entirely separate from the grid. To address that issue, he conceived the idea of a master-planned zero-emissions, all electric apartment complex, commenting in a recent conversation that, “I don’t want to build another apartment unless I can change the trajectory of the world…you can talk about it or do something.” So he set out to build projects that are 100% carbon neutral with the goal of setting a standard for others to follow. ![]() Having been raised watching his father’s work in soil conservation, and having founded his own companies, including utility management company Conservice to monitor and reduce water use in apartments by 30%, Hansen has long been concerned about the growing air quality problem in the Utah area along the Wasatch Front. ![]() Wasatch Group’s Founder and CEO Dell Loy Hansen started the project with the environment in mind. In a conversation with the CEOs of sonnen and Wasatch Group, and a Managing Director from Rocky Mountain Power, the three parties emphasized that what makes the Soleil Lofts project so unique is the way it came together, as well as its location in a low-cost power market. And none of them was conceptualized as an integrated utility-customer storage play in a new real estate project right from start. They were all designed by actors playing directly in the energy arena, and generally retrofitting storage into existing properties. However, all of these projects have been implemented in high-cost energy markets on the East and West coasts. So there are already some initial examples of utilities paying for and getting access to behind-the meter storage. The first phase envisions 200 batteries, with a follow-up phase including another 300 units. Batteries will be charged during overnight lower rates, or by solar installations where they exist. It is now following on with a second ‘Resilient Home’ offering to an additional 250 customers. For its part, New Hampshire’s Liberty Utilities received approval this year to commence its own ten-year home battery pilot project, combining storage with time-of-use rates, with a monthly cost of $50. For example, Vermont’s Green Mountain Power began offering on-site residential storage to up to 2,000 customers in mid-2017 for $1500 down or $15 per month, providing back-ups against outages while maintaining the right to aggregate the batteries for its own purposes and reduce the utility’s exposure to wholesale costs. Note: To compare various battery characteristics, including safety, Battery University’s site is a good place to start).ĭoesn't look like a power plant, does it? Credit: Wasatch GroupĪt the same time, some utilities have also stepped into the game of coordinating on-site storage assets to optimize their operations. But what about fire (after all, didn’t we see a battery fire at Arizona Public Service earlier this year, as well as a garage with its roof blown off by a Hyundai EV in Montreal just last month)? sonnen’s stable lithium iron phosphate chemistry is chosen for its proven safety, ( its thermal run-away temperature rating is far higher than most competing lithium technologies. None of this hide-the-battery-in-the-garage stuff for sonnen. What makes this particular project unique? First, the storage units will be located inside the residences (check out the picture – these are meant to be handsome appliances, like a gleaming refrigerator or trophy cooking range). Residents will begin moving into the apartments in September 2019 and the final building will be complete by December of 2020. Sonnen Inc’s CEO Blake Richetta recently characterized Soleil Lofts as “the world’s first all-electric, carbon neutral residential apartment community VPP, managed by the local utility, Rocky Mountain Power.” The project, Soleil Lofts, is an apartment community that will feature solar arrays as well as 600 sonnen lithium iron phosphate ecoLinx batteries, totaling 5 megawatts (MW) of capacity and 12.6 megawatt-hours (MWh) of energy. (a subsidiary of Shell), real estate developer Wasatch Group, and utility Rocky Mountain Power (a subsidiary of Pacificorp) announced a unique and ground-breaking virtual power plant (VPP) in Herriman, Utah, just outside of Salt Lake City. ![]() ![]() Today, energy storage company sonnen, Inc. ![]()
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