Sonnen’s Wattsmart VPP in Utah becomes largest US program, expanding grid services with over 40MWh of batteries.

sonnen CEO Blake Richetta credits his company’s first virtual power plant in the US, the Wattsmart VPP programme with utility Rocky Mountain Power in Utah, as the company’s foundation for the VPP value proposition. The VPP space is becoming increasingly exciting as it moves from being a “very esoteric” and perhaps “aspirational” project limited to a handful of projects with specific partners to something that makes sense to more US utilities. The Wattsmart program with Rocky Mountain power in Utah is now the largest of its kind in the country and has expanded to provide eight separate grid services. The company’s first pilot phase in Utah was seen at Soleil Lofts, a new development residential housing complex in 2018, and is now over 40MWh of behind-the-meter residential batteries.