The noted solar energy company SunPower recently partnered with the battery systems and services provider Stem to begin offering behind-the-meter battery systems to commercial customers throughout the US.
The partnership has been ongoing as of the last 5 months, and has so far apparently been quite successful — though no specific numbers are currently publicly available.
According to SunPower’s Ivo Steklac, though, the expectation is that offering storage options will boost the company’s commercial-sector business “rather dramatically” — based on how well things have gone so far.
“It’s a market pull. Our customers are asking for these solutions,” continued Steklac, SunPower’s GM of residential and commercial energy solutions.
The new agreement between SunPower and Stem came not that long after the company entered into a very similar arrangement with Sunverge — thereby giving SunPower a battery + software solution for the residential sector in the US + Australia.
According to Steklac, this recent push into commercial battery sector was representative of the company’s growing confidence in the long-term potential of the sector.
“We’re going to be touching a much larger number of customers by offering storage,” noted Steklac.
RenewEconomy provides a bit more:
For now, SunPower is going after customers in markets like California and New York, where high demand charges for commercial and industrial customers make batteries much more competitive.
Adding storage to its suite of services allows SunPower to reach customers who may not have suitable roof space or a lease arrangement that will allow them to install solar. It also gives existing solar customers more options for managing their energy use.
The partnership also gives Stem another deep channel to sell systems, both for new and existing customers. Stem CEO John Carrington said that his company is set to install 10 megawatts of batteries in 2015. The company is currently working on projects at 140 sites across the US. “The growth rate is remarkable,” he said.
Good news. It looks like Tesla isn’t the only one making inroads into the commercial energy storage + solar PV sector.
Image Credit: SunPower
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