SOLRITE, a company specializing in developing, financing, and owning Virtual Power Plant Agreement (VPA) projects, together with sonnen, a leader in Virtual Power Plant energy storage technology, announced they will now digitally integrate VPP smart breakers, managed by ADAPT Energy, into the SOLRITE sonnen VPP. The integration marks the next evolution of sonnen and SOLRITE’s partnership in VPP innovation, expanding beyond battery storage by transforming residential electrical loads into flexible, dispatchable grid assets for both the VPP and smart backup power applications.
Unlike traditional approaches to whole-home backup, often requiring hard-wired circuit relocation that includes exclusive loads panels, the newly expanded VPP Node combines the sonnenHub with ADAPT Energy’s VPP smart breaker technology to intelligently manage major household loads. This creates a more streamlined approach to whole-home backup while unlocking an entirely new source of flexibility for the SOLRITE sonnen VPP.
With homeowner permission, the VPP smart breaker, controlled by ADAPT Energy, can also participate in on-grid VPP events, enabling the same electrical infrastructure to be flexible for both backup and grid participation.
The Next Generation of Whole-Home Backup
The integration addresses one of the longstanding challenges of whole-home backup: how to provide broad electrical coverage without having large household loads drain available battery capacity too quickly or cause the nano-grid to immediately fail after an off-grid transition, due to excessive inrush current. With the newly expanded VPP smart breaker technology digitally integrated with the sonnen ecosystem, the system can intelligently shed large loads without requiring those circuits to be relocated. ADAPT Energy keeps the smart breakers synchronized with the sonnen battery during backup mode and automatically restores the breakers when grid power returns. This significantly reduces installation complexity and tedious inspections for installers, allowing crews to complete more jobs per week.
For homeowners, the system provides the convenience of a whole-home electrical configuration that intelligently manages the loads that have the greatest impact on backup duration. This work is all done in the background, meaning homeowners do not have to worry about resetting individual circuits during an outage. Instead, participating homes will see more value from their VPA program in the form of an enhanced backup power experience. Furthermore, at any time in the future, if a homeowner is interested in altering which of their VPP smart breaker-controlled loads are shed during an outage, the process to make such a change is quick and easy, requiring no electrical reconfiguration.
Smart Breakers as Grid Flexibility
The permission-based architecture aligns the interests of the homeowner, battery owner, and utility. The real opportunity comes when homeowners choose to opt in to allow the breakers to participate in on-grid VPP events.
When a VPP event is dispatched, the sonnen battery can discharge or charge in concert with direct load shedding via ADAPT. ADAPT Energy will strictly shed pre-approved household loads, and by using Eaton AbleEdge breakers, ADAPT achieves this right where the breaker sits, without relocation. A customer who has opted to include a pool pump, for example, can have that load temporarily turned off while the sonnen battery is discharging to the grid. That way, the VPP can respond through both energy stored in the battery and energy that would have otherwise been consumed by the home, thereby increasing the dispatched injection into the grid, by the VPP.
For more information, visit www.sonnenusa.com and solriteenergy.com.
