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Soleil Energy Starts Construction on California Rooftop Virtual Power Plant

The Wasatch Group's new engineering, procurement and construction arm, Soleil Energy, is beginning construction on the world';s biggest Virtual Power Plants (VPP) this month. This effort from Soleil Energy is going to be constructed on top of the apartment rooftops in the suburbs of California.

This project is the first among the seven projects that Soleil Energy has lined up one after other. According to Blake Richetta, the CEO, these projects are there in part to show what can be done. The key point of breaking ground on the California rooftop VPP project is to take advantage of the abundant renewable natural resources in the state and thusly reduce the energy shortage.

What is a VPP

A virtual power plant, or VPP, is a network of small to medium power generators working together to output power levels comparable to a traditional power plant. It is a cloud-based energy architecture, a distributed energy resource, targeted to enhance the existing power grid, storing power, or even selling it on the electricity market.

VPP's generally are made up of small energy generators, often driven by natural resources. For example, solar panels, wind turbines, combined heat and power units – or even power consumers letting go of the electricity when they aren't using it. Combining these small units together, a veritable “power cloud” is established, the total output of which can rival even big traditional power plants.

This particular VPP we are talking about, the Soleil Energy's California Rooftop based VPP, uses solar panels on the rooftops of apartments.

Why California

California as a region has many features welcoming a solar power solution to its grid. First of all, the state experiences abundant sunshine and regular wind currents most of the year, so the opportunities of developing renewable energy solutions here are great. Secondly, the Californian power grid is highly unstable and to some extent unpredictable. The power costs are high, there are frequent load shadings, and safety-related power cuts due to wildfires are pretty common over the state are quite common.

All of the above makes California a prime logical target for a solar or wind powered VPP solution, and that is exactly what the Wasatch Group and Sonnen have been developing for the past few years. According to Ryan Peterson from the Group, this VPP on Californian rooftops is a proof of concept project that may change the whole energy generation trend in the whole USA.

The plan so far

The Wasatch Group, Sonnen, and Rocky Mountain Power have jointly completed the 600-unit Soleil Lofts VPP solar power generation and storage facility on a Herriman apartment complex in Utah. The power grid there has immensely benefited from this extra juice and decongested the system. Heady with success, the group has moved to California now.

The design of the power network infrastructure in the Soleil Energy California rooftop VPP dictates that each unit in this system will be able act as community oriented peaker plants. This system is utterly flexible and can be used as-needed for load shaping purposes.

Not only will the solar plants produce clean, reliable energy for the residents of the huge apartment complex, it will also be able to send some of the power back to the grid. This will take of a major load in the power system in the region now, and in turn will also shore up on local demands generated by power cuts as directed by the grid.

Most important to mention, the Soleil rooftop VPP in California apartments will give the residents of these apartment communities “resiliency at a discounted electricity rate”, according to Richetta.

The battery systems to be used as power storage solution in this VPP fleet are going to be provided by Sonnen, which is already famous for such solutions. The primary role of the battery system is, of course, to store power for night time when there is no solar power generation.

But furthermore, the Sonnen battery system with all its intricate modules will be able to optimize each community's solar production, grid usage and individual apartment loads. One of the most astonishing features of the Sonnen battery grid that these computerized battery unit systems are imbued with the ability to ‘talk to' each other, thereby working as a team to skew the load balance as necessary. The system is, in effect, one giant truly smart battery.

The numbers

The construction of first part of the seven-part project has started this month at the Heron Pointe apartment complex in Fresno with 417 units being retrofitted. That part-project alone has cost the Wasatch Group $19.7 millions already, however, the cost of rest of the parts shall be borne by other contributors.

The completion of the Soleil Energy California rooftop VPP fleet shall be completed in 2021, barring any unforeseen issues. As completed project, the seven parts altogether will be able to produce over 60 MWh of energy, and will be able to store 24 MWh of electricity for low-time use.

California is really powering up, thanks to Soleil Energy!

Soleil Energy Starts Construction on California Rooftop Virtual Power Plant