Sonnen energy storage has been implemented at the McKnight Lane Affordable Housing Development in Vermont, USA; helping to transform a trailer park into a an energy resilient community.
Consisting of fourteen energy efficient homes, McKnight Lane is the first net-zero, low-income rental housing development in the country.
Each home has a 6 kW rooftop solar panel array and a 6 kWh sonnen battery system. The energy storage can provide households up to six hours of emergency backup power for essential appliances; as well as helping make better use of their solar-generated electricity.
“Projects like the McKnight Lane development, enable us to bring new technologies like solar+storage to lower income communities, providing cost savings and peace of mind for these homeowners, bolstering the local utility grid and contributing to greater clean energy equity,” said Christoph Ostermann, global CEO of sonnen.
Construction started in May, and qualifying low and middle income households qualifying through the Addison County Community Trust will be able to occupy the homes by the end of this month.
“.. the net-zero homes with resilient battery systems ensure residents won’t have to choose between purchasing groceries or paying their fuel bill to stay warm this winter,” said Elise Shanbacker, Executive Director of Addison County Community Trust.
“In particular, the addition of the battery systems through this important energy partnership means that McKnight Lane residents can rest assured knowing they are prepared to weather storms and outages for years to come”.
As part of its involvement, sonnen provided a 25% discount on the smart energy storage solutions. Other solar + storage partners in the project included Clean Energy Group/Clean Energy States Alliance, Efficiency Vermont and Green Mountain Power.
Germany’s Sonnen has been powering ahead in its ultimate mission to bring clean, affordable and reliable energy to all this year – including launching in Australia.
15,000 sonnenBatterie units have been installed globally and the company also recently received recognition in MIT Technology Review’s “50 Smartest Companies 2016” list. Last week, the company announced it had successfully completed a new USD $85 million financing round.
