Solar-powered apartment complex in Utah will create a unique virtual power plant

A new apartment development in Utah wants to model sustainable living not just by serving as a prototype for the region, but by demonstrating a game-changing way to expand residential solar power capacity.

The apartment complex—or Soleil Lofts as it’s called—is being developed through a triple partnership between sonnen, the Wasatch Group, and Rocky Mountain Power.

The developers say this apartment community which is located in Herriman, Utah, will represent a truly innovative all-electric residential community design that standardizes on-site energy storage in every unit.

A rendering of the Soleil Lofts, a new 600-unit net-zero apartment development in Herriman, Utah (Courtesy The Wasatch Group)

The partnership provides a first-of-a-kind network of solar-powered battery storage systems that will be fully managed by Rocky Mountain Power, the local utility.

The complex will be a mix of one-to-three-bedroom apartments featuring five megawatts of solar panels.

Each unit will also host a Sonnen EcoLinx battery to store energy, combining together to offer 12.6 megawatt-hours of storage.

The apartment complex will be made up of 22 buildings and 600-units when complete. It will be the first to put batteries inside every apartment so that Rocky Mountain Power can use in a network to create a virtual power plant.

A kitchen in the Soleil Lofts containing a Sonnen battery. Each unit will have a battery within the living space to help build awareness and comfort of large-scale residential battery power storage (Courtesy The Wasatch Group)

“As the developer of Soleil Lofts, we started with the firm belief we could build a community that was solving the Salt Lake Valley’s serious air quality issues today and in the future,” said Dell Loy Hansen, CEO of the Wasatch Group. “That belief led us to partner with Rocky Mountain Power, sonnen and Auric Energy for the development of an all-electric community utilizing solar and batteries.

Residents will begin moving into the Soleil Lofts apartments in 2019 and the final building will be completed in December of 2020.

Upon completion, the Soleil Lofts community will be the largest fully installed and operational residential battery demand response solution in the United States.