Liberty Lake, Wash.-headquartered technology and services provider Itron Inc. has partnered with Germany-based sonnen GmbH to integrate battery storage to its distributed energy management and demand response solutions.

The integration of sonnenBatterie eco with Itron's IntelliSOURCE Enterprise demand response management system would help utilities better manage their distributed energy resources, according to a March 28 news release.

The sonnenBatterie will allow Itron to increase grid efficiency by storing and releasing energy. The company is already working with sonnen in California to manage the load shapes produced by increased placement of energy resources.

That program will allow customers, utilities and energy service companies to monitor the impact of energy resources and loads behind the meter, forecast the impact of these resources and automatically optimize their operations to increase benefits for customers and grids.

Sonnen is provider of intelligent residential energy storage systems.