sonnen Goes Insolvent in Germany While Its US Home Battery Business Doubles

Two sharply different pictures emerged from sonnen this week. The residential battery maker confirmed on October 22 that its German operations have filed for insolvency, even as its American division reports sales that have doubled over the past year.

The filing arrived barely two months after Shell offloaded sonnen to the investment group TIVEN. Around 400 employees at the Wildpoldsried, Bavaria site were informed that day, according to Handelsblatt, which first reported the news. sonnen GmbH has since verified the filing.

What Happens to Existing Owners

For the roughly 150,000 households already running sonnen hardware, service is the burning question. The company says it plans to keep supporting those customers, but the shape of the business is about to change considerably.

• Subsidiaries: several are expected to be wound down or pushed into self-administered insolvency proceedings
• Manufacturing: only a single production site will remain, though the company has not named it
• Headcount: the Bavarian workforce of about 400 is directly affected by the filing

Meanwhile, in Georgia

On the other side of the Atlantic, sonnen USA is telling a growth story. The company says sales have doubled and production tripled year over year, helped by expanded manufacturing capacity in Stone Mountain, Georgia. It expects to ship more than 180 MWh of residential storage in 2026.

Virtual power plants are doing much of the heavy lifting. These setups link household batteries into a coordinated fleet that can support the grid — and pay homeowners back for the service.

Where sonnen’s VPP business stands: SOLRITE serves 6,000+ Texas homes · sonnenCommunity pays cash rewards in National Grid and Eversource territory in Massachusetts · Wattsmart sales climbing in Utah

TIVEN, which acquired the entire global business including the US arm, said it “looks forward to bolstering the company’s impressive growth.” US CEO Blake Richetta framed the parent’s position just as firmly: “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.”

The Question Nobody Answered

The American release says nothing about the insolvency filing in Germany. Asked about the situation by pv magazine, sonnen USA declined to comment.

That silence matters. Customers weighing a home battery purchase need to know how manufacturing, software updates and warranty service will hold up through a restructuring — especially when the parent company is being carved up.

The demand is clearly there; the US numbers make that plain. What’s missing is a straight answer on how the German shake-up touches the American operation, and the people who already bought in.