Home battery maker sonnen is facing sharply contrasting fortunes on either side of the Atlantic. Its German company has filed for insolvency, while its American arm says sales have doubled and it is preparing to grow further.
The German filing arrives only two months after Shell sold sonnen to the investment group TIVEN. According to Handelsblatt, sonnen GmbH confirmed the move and told roughly 400 employees at its base in Wildpoldsried, Bavaria, on October 22.
For households that own sonnen batteries, the main concern is whether service will continue. Handelsblatt reported that the company plans to keep supporting its more than 150,000 existing customers. However, a major restructuring is expected. Numerous subsidiaries are likely to be wound down or placed into insolvency proceedings under self-administration, and only one production site is set to remain. The report did not say which site that would be.
In the United States, the picture looks very different. Sonnen USA says its sales have doubled and its production has tripled compared with a year earlier, helped by expanded manufacturing in Stone Mountain, Georgia. The company expects to deliver more than 180 megawatt-hours of residential battery storage in 2026.
A large share of that growth is tied to virtual power plants, which link home batteries so they can jointly support the electricity grid. They also give households another way to earn value from their solar and storage systems.
In Texas, sonnen says its SOLRITE offering now serves more than 6,000 homes, bundling rooftop solar, batteries, energy management and virtual power plant participation. In Massachusetts, its sonnenCommunity program pays cash rewards to participating homeowners in National Grid and Eversource territories. The company also reports rising sales through its Wattsmart program in Utah.
TIVEN acquired the whole global business, including the US operation. US chief executive Blake Richetta said that "TIVEN is firmly committed to the long-term success of sonnen USA as a strong, market-leading company in the North American VPP energy market." TIVEN said it "looks forward to bolstering the company's impressive growth."
Still, the American announcement leaves a central question open: how the German restructuring will affect the US business and its customers. The statement does not mention the insolvency filing, and sonnen USA declined to comment on developments in Germany when contacted by pv magazine.
The US figures point to solid demand for sonnen's batteries. What customers still lack is a clear account of how manufacturing, software support and servicing will be maintained while the restructuring proceeds.
