Vera Eckert: May 23, 2018Shell Ventures, a unit of the Anglo-Dutch oil major that has been boosting its investments in solar and other renewables, was a lead investor in the latest funding round, sonnen Chief executive Christoph Ostermann told Reuters.
“With this money, we can get started on important investment plans, especially in the United States and Australia,” he said, adding that existing shareholders also contributed extra cash.
“We also want to invest in broadening our sonnen community and our virtual power plant (VPP), and expand our offering of grid-related services,” the sonnen CEO said, adding that the firm aimed to turn a profit in Germany in two years.
The company provides battery storage systems to households with rooftop solar panels and links up home-produced electricity to other solar users in Germany, Europe’s biggest solar market.
The company — which also operates in Italy, France, Australia, Austria, Britain and the United States — provides hardware and software to customers seeking more independence from power markets dominated by big utilities generating most of their electricity from fossil fuels.
So far, sonnen has sold 30,000 batteries worldwide with combined capacity for 210 megawatts. This only equates to a small fossil-fuel power plant but it has potential to expand as storage becomes cheaper and generation becomes less centralized.
The company has teamed up with grid companies to help iron out imbalances in transmission networks by aggregating battery owners to operate as a single “virtual” power plant.
In 2016, sonnen received 76 million euros from investors, including China’s Envision. Ostermann said the 76 million euros plus the latest funding round would cover investment for the next two years.
“It is important for us to have leg room, as we are a growth company and need to develop,” he said.
Other sonnen investors include Germany’s eCapital and MVP, Dutch firm SET Ventures, Czech company Inven Capital, and GE Ventures, a unit of U.S. firm General Electric.
The investment from Shell, which operates in 140 countries, would help sonnen expand into new areas, Ostermann said.
The company boosted turnover by 65 percent to 65 million euros in 2017, outpacing growth in German solar battery sales of 30 percent, Ostermann said, adding that a stock market listing (IPO) was a possibility but was not on the immediate horizon.
Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Edmund Blair
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
