Verantum and Yotta Energy today announced a strategic partnership to deliver virtual power plant (VPP) solutions for multi-site commercial operators across North America. Verantum’s platform serves multi-site commercial building operators and currently manages over 42,000 buildings in every major utility service territory. Yotta Energy develops and manufactures the Yotta Block, the only energy storage product that is installed on the roof with the solar array.

The partnership arrives as utilities recover a historic grid buildout through transmission and distribution charges. U.S. average commercial electricity prices have risen roughly 30% since 2019, according to the EIA, and peak demand charges, which can make up 30% to 70% of a commercial bill, have become one of the hardest costs for multi-site operators to predict or control. That cost risk is making flexible distributed energy resources (DERs) more attractive, provided they can scale across an entire portfolio.

Grocery chains, retailers, and other multi-site commercial operators manage thousands of energy-intensive assets, yet solar plus storage has been slow to reach their portfolios. A primary barrier is that traditional storage requires site-by-site engineering and dedicated ground space, so a rollout across hundreds of locations becomes hundreds of separate projects. That cost and complexity has kept most portfolio-wide deployments from penciling out.

The partnership attacks the problem from both directions: the building’s load and the storage itself. Verantum already dynamically optimizes the equipment that uses the most power in these buildings, including HVAC and refrigeration, to reduce both energy consumption (kWh) and demand (kW), essentially creating a virtual battery from the building’s existing load flexibility. Yotta’s batteries install on the roof as part of the solar system, the same way at every site. Together, the two solutions let buildings shift when they use power and supply stored energy when the grid needs it, without compromising occupant comfort or refrigerated goods.

For operators, the combined solution can easily shift more than 70% of utility consumption to on-site generation, with consistent simple paybacks of under five years, or flexible PPA and loan options that deliver 15% to 20% lower costs from day one. It also lowers carbon emissions and improves operational resilience while maintaining the comfort, reliability, and performance those facilities require. Where local grid programs allow, the partnership opens a new source of revenue, since utilities and grid operators pay for capacity that can respond on demand. Additionally, Verantum’s condition-based maintenance solution helps ensure that the equipment behind that flexibility performs as expected.

“Our customers rely on Verantum not only to maintain comfort and protect critical systems, from the sales floor to the cold case, but also to continuously optimize their HVAC-R assets to reduce energy expense,” said Ryan Adelman, CEO of Verantum. “Partnering with Yotta is the logical next step, giving customers relief from rising utility costs while providing flexibility to the grid. Combining our zero-capex demand management capabilities with a best-in-class behind-the-meter energy storage system delivers superior economics and a scalable model for multi-site operators.”

“Commercial operators have wanted storage for years, but adding it usually turns every site into a construction project,” said Jordan Harris, CEO of Yotta Energy. “Our solution deploys with the solar array and streamlines every aspect of the project. Together with Verantum, we generate, store, and optimize electricity at the point of demand, and all our customers will see is the savings.”

The companies will begin with pilot deployments at a small number of existing Verantum customer sites, with installations planned for early 2027. Their long-term goal is 5 GW of enrolled VPP capacity across North American commercial buildings, enough to power nearly 4 million homes.

About the Companies

About Verantum

Verantum (formerly Phoenix Energy Technologies) establishes sustained performance across energy-intensive assets and complex commercial portfolios. The company unifies HVAC, refrigeration, lighting, and building automation systems into a closed-loop framework of Collect. Analyze. Act. Performance issues are identified early, prioritized by operational and financial impact, executed through coordinated workflows and services, and measured to ensure results hold over time.

Trusted by organizations managing more than 42,000 buildings across North America, Verantum helps reduce operational risk, extend equipment life, and ensure performance holds across portfolios, seasons, and years. Learn more at verantum.com.

Building performance, delivered.

About Yotta Energy

Yotta Energy makes the Yotta Block, the battery that installs where the ballast on a commercial solar roof already sits. Storage goes up with the panels: no cabinets, no lost ground space, no added construction. It is certified to UL 9540 and UL 9540A, built in Austin, Texas, and proven on commercial roofs since 2021. Learn more at yottaenergy.com.

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