Arizona Public Service Selects Sunverge for Innovative Residential Energy Storage Program

APS joins Lakeland Electric, Green Mountain Power and dozens of other utilities that are exploring how aggregated distributed storage can deliver improved customer value and grid services

SAN FRANCISCO (November 28, 2017) ― Sunverge Energy has signed deals with three major electric utilities serving millions of customers in Arizona, Florida and Vermont, expanding the utility customer base for its advanced, intelligent storage systems and Virtual Power Plant (VPP) platform. The utilities, which serve areas with significant diversity of climate, solar availability and demand patterns, all have recently purchased Sunverge systems as part of next-generation demand response or resiliency programs.

As part of a solar innovation study, Arizona Public Service Company (APS) is deploying a fleet of Sunverge One energy storage units coupled with Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) to deliver more reliable load shapes and increase customer bill savings, all while maintaining customer comfort. The Sunverge platform can predict load and solar generation. For this study, the role of the platform will be to orchestrate between the energy storage system and smart devices in the home. The goal is an optimized ecosystem of networked distributed energy resources that work in concert to minimize electricity demand, maximize savings against time-varying rates and provide demand response and other grid services.

APS will begin deploying the Sunverge energy storage systems in the greater Phoenix area beginning in December 2017.

Lakeland Electric is installing a system at a commercial site to demonstrate the ability for energy storage to help shave a customer’s peak demand behind-the-meter and serve as a tool to support the grid. The pilot allows the Lakeland, Florida-based utility to better understand how distributed energy storage can be used to deliver benefits to customers and the grid.

To study the Sunverge system’s ability to hold up high power loads during an outage, Green Mountain Power deployed a Sunverge One at the rural Farm & Wilderness camps, which host summer programs for children. During a recent power outage, the Sunverge One provided approximately seven hours of backup power, including the support of three commercial-grade refrigerators. Moreover, the system is able to operate in a non-climate controlled barn, thanks to the thermal controls available with the Sunverge One. The project with Sunverge has enabled Green Mountain Power to evaluate options for all Vermont residents, and test software for advanced virtual power plant functions.

“These three utilities join dozens of others that are exploring how aggregated distributed energy resources, including storage, can deliver improved customer value and new grid services,” said Sunverge CEO Martin Milani. “The APS solar innovation study provides a glimpse into the future of the grid. In that future, overall energy supply and demand is balanced home by home, while still maintaining the comfort of each customer.”

Navigant Research forecasts that installed DER capacity in the US, including distributed generation (DG), energy storage, microgrids, EVs, and demand response (DR), will reach more than 288 GW in 2024, thirteen times current DER capacity. To manage this growing number of DERs, Navigant estimates US utilities will spend $503.6 million on DER management technologies by 2020, up from $96.4 million in 2016.

About Sunverge Energy

San Francisco–based Sunverge Energy enables homeowners to efficiently manage their own renewable energy generation and helps utilities, retailers and solar power providers aggregate those renewable power sources into virtual power plants across neighborhoods, communities and entire service areas — reliably, effectively and intelligently. Founded in 2009, the company makes the Sunverge One, a fully integrated energy storage system, and the Sunverge Infinity, an energy management platform for managing third-party distributed energy resources. The Sunverge One and Sunverge Infinity increase energy reliability, strengthen the grid, and accelerate the adoption and integration of distributed renewable energy. Investors include AGL, the Southern Cross Renewable Energy Fund backed by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and SB China Venture Capital (SBCVC), MITSUI & Co., Siemens Venture Capital, Total Energy Ventures International and VisIR. For more information, please visit www.sunverge.com or follow @Sunverge on Twitter.