Energy tech firms target Spanish grid alleviation with home solar-storage offer

Utility firm OVO Energy has enlisted battery storage provider sonnen to launch a home solar-storage offering in Spain with the aim of easing grid constraints in the country.

OVO will offer its customers in the country domestic solar installs to be paired with batteries from Shell-owned sonnen and underpin their use via an energy management platform produced by Kaluza, OVO’s in-house energy technology company.

Local solar installation business Webatt has been appointed install partner for the project.

The offering will allow OVO customers to generate, store and either use or export their own power. OVO said it intended to make full use of Spain’s ‘auto-consumo’ policy, which allows owners of home solar systems to sell excess energy to local distribution grids.

OVO talked up the potential for systems to reduce grid constraints in the country by essentially reducing power demand during peak times, while also helping customers reduce their dependence on the grid.

Sara Wood, CEO at Kaluza, said integrating the company’s platform with batteries from sonnen would empower consumers while “creating a more resilient energy system” at the same time.

While a relatively new entrant to the Spanish electricity market, OVO is the second-largest energy supplier in the UK and Kaluza’s intelligent energy management platform has been used to solve grid challenges in its home market. Earlier this month, Kaluza was able to aggregate the energy store capacities of numerous electric vehicles to respond to a grid capacity warning issued by UK system operator National Grid ESO.

The offering’s launch also comes just weeks after fellow UK energy supplier Octopus Energy unveiled a new product with battery storage giant Tesla.

Tags: sonnen, ovo energy, kaluza, energy management, residential solar, grid, grid constraints, spain, self-consumption, prosumers, solar-plus-storage, battery