A leading provider of residential energy storage, along with a Texas retail energy provider and an energy technology group, announced a collaboration to support a virtual power plant (VPP) network in Texas.
Abundance Energy, sonnen, and Energywell Technology Licensing on May 6 said they will work together on development of behind-the-meter, battery-enabled VPPs. The program is designed to support retail energy customers of Texas-based Abundance Energy, while also providing support for the state’s power grid.
A VPP is a system that aggregates and manages distributed energy resources (DERs). The technologies involved can include solar power, battery energy storage, and smart appliances. The technologies can function as a single entity, and then provide grid services like a traditional power plant.
The Texas collaboration enables Abundance Energy customers to use sonnenConnect home batteries financed by SOLRITE to support grid stability and ensure reliable energy delivery. The program also is expected to lower electricity costs. The companies on Tuesday said it also aids in continued development of smarter, more sustainable energy solutions for residential electricity customers.
The initiative “is optimized through the integration of Energywell’s Proton platform with sonnen’s advanced Virtual Power Plant battery control technology,” the companies said, as “each battery is continuously managed in response to market price signals, customer usage, and solar generation. Networked together, these batteries create a VPP, dynamically balancing energy supply and demand to maximize value for both the grid and the customer.”
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Blake Richetta, chairman and CEO of sonnen Inc. USA, told POWER: “With Abundance Energy and Energywell as our retail electric provider partners and SOLRITE as the financing engine, we’ve developed the most innovative and scalable VPP program in Texas, with the potential to provide clean and affordable energy and backup power resiliency to hundreds of thousands of Texan homes.”
Tuesday’s announcement comes just after Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on May 2 signed the Community Energy Act for that state. The new law directs Dominion Energy to launch a 450-MW VPP pilot, which will allowing homes and businesses to aggregate solar panels, batteries, EV chargers and smart devices into a flexible grid resource.
Sunrun, a residential solar, battery storage and energy services company, just announced that it has expanded the nation’s largest VPP, located in California. The company said its CalReady program has more than quadrupled in size, linking together about 75,000 home batteries from more than 56,000 Sunrun customers with solar-plus-storage. The company said the system can provide up to 375 MW of backup power if needed.
VPPs Growing in Texas
Texas is home to other VPP projects. SOLRITE Energy and sonnen in January of this year launched a virtual power plant purchase agreement that provided homeowners with solar panels and sonnen batteries. Tesla has a program with ERCOT, the state’s grid operator, for owners of Tesla Powerwall systems.
NRG Energy last year announced it was partnering with Renew Home, a residential VPP operator, to create a 1-GW artificial intelligence-powered VPP in Texas. The network will be powered by Google Cloud technology.
“Texas is more than a proving ground … it’s the front line of the energy transition. By combining sonnen’s intelligent storage, Abundance Energy’s customer reach, and our Proton platform’s ability to transform data into real-time, market-driven action, we are making virtual power plants more than a concept,” said Michael Fallquist, CEO of Energywell. Fallquist told POWER, “We’ve developed a powerful, flexible, and scalable tool for reshaping how energy is generated, stored, and shared across the grid.”
“At SOLRITE, we believe financial innovation is key to unlocking the full potential of distributed energy,” said Regan George, CEO of SOLRITE Energy. “By eliminating upfront costs for solar and battery installations, we enable more homeowners to participate in this VPP program, delivering clean, reliable power to customers and adding value to the grid.”
The NC (North Carolina) Clean Energy Technology Center, along with the Smart Electric Power Alliance, recently released a report that said 38 states and the District of Columbia “advanced policies and regulatory actions related to VPPs and DER aggregations” last year.
‘Empower Homeowners’
“Our mission is to empower homeowners with smarter, more sustainable energy solutions,” said Thomas Mandry, CEO of Abundance Energy, a Texas retail electric provider with products that serve the residential and multifamily markets. “By combining sonnen’s best-in-class battery and virtual power plant technology, Energywell’s market expertise through its Proton platform, we are delivering an innovative VPP model that benefits both customers and the Texas grid.”
Mandry told POWER: “Texans deserve energy solutions that put them in control, not at the mercy of the grid. Our virtual power plant model is built to deliver exactly that—backup power during outages, stability during peak demand, and long-term protection from rising energy costs. This isn’t just a clean energy upgrade—it’s a smarter, more resilient way to power your home. With our customer-first, technology-driven approach, we’re helping thousands of Texans get more value from their energy, while accelerating the state’s transition to a cleaner, more reliable grid.”
Richetta said his company’s “VPP solutions enable customers to actively participate in the energy market while maintaining resilience in their homes.” The sonnen VPP technology is able to manage energy supply and demand, with intelligence to ensure that stored solar or grid energy is deployed when it is most needed.
Energywell’s Proton platform provides advanced forecasting and optimization tools to ensure batteries are dispatched in alignment with market opportunities. “The Texas energy landscape is evolving, and this partnership exemplifies the future of distributed energy,” said Fallquist. “By optimizing stored energy, we are reducing reliance on fossil fuels and lowering carbon emissions, building a smarter, cleaner, and more flexible grid.”
The sonnen VPP has been a pioneer among residential battery-based VPP systems, with recognition as a model for decentralized, digitalized, and decarbonized future energy systems. In Texas, sonnen—a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell—partners with SOLRITE Energy for virtual power plant purchase agreements, along with providing solar panels and home battery systems.
Energywell is an energy technology company backed by funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, and capital and commodities expertise from Hartree Partners L.P. The company’s Proton platform delivers real-time energy insights along with device integration to support energy optimization and sustainability.
—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.
