Newish European-based panel manufacturer FreeVolt has entered into a partnership with California-headquartered energy management company Apparent. FreeVolt’s U.S. installation division FreeVolt USA will team with Apparent to provide solar-plus-storage systems to California homeowners and C&I customers.

FreeVolt’s panels (manufactured in Poland) incorporate graphene, a highly conductive carbon derivative that the company claims boosts efficiency by 35%. Under this partnership, FreeVolt “PV Graf” modules will be paired with energy storage systems and managed by Apparent’s software igOS, which uses machine learning to identify and signal to a solar or storage appliance when and how to operate.

“We are incredibly pleased to be working toward a partnership with FreeVolt, as it will allow Apparent to engage in the clean energy space in the Coachella Valley and beyond,” said Jacqueline DeSouza, president of Apparent. “Apparent’s mission is to enable clean energy today and the electric economy of the future. FreeVolt will bring us one step closer to that vision.”

When aggregated, FreeVolt’s intelligent energy systems managed by Apparent will also be ready to participate in the California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO) wholesale energy market as a distributed energy resource provider.

News item from FreeVolt