Sunrun’s solar + storage VPP supports California grid with 48 MW a night during heat wave

Sunrun announced that its CalReady power plant was activated to support California’s power grid during the recent heat wave. Batteries from over 16,000 Sunrun customers’ solar + storage systems dispatched power for four consecutive evenings from July 9 to 12 during peak hours.

Sunrun customers’ batteries supplied the grid with an average of 48 MW each night, enough to power up to 48,000 homes — a city the size of Santa Monica — and peaked at 51 MW, exceeding the capacity of several costly and polluting gas-fired peaker plants in California. Home solar and battery systems are modernizing, transforming and strengthening the electric grid.

“We are so grateful that we can not only provide customers with a greater sense of energy independence, resilience and affordability but that those same systems can support our communities to make California’s grid more reliable — especially as scorching heat puts extra stress on the grid this summer,” said Sunrun CEO Mary Powell. “By sharing their stored solar energy, Sunrun customers are boosting energy supplies, reducing energy costs for all Californians and preventing rolling blackouts.”

Sunrun’s CalReady is the largest single-owner virtual power plant in the state’s Demand Side Grid Support program, which is administered by the California Energy Commission. CalReady is available to support California’s grid each day from 4 to 9 p.m. through October — the time of day and season when there is the greatest demand for energy and the grid is most vulnerable to outages. Sunrun customers enrolled in CalReady are compensated for sharing their stored solar energy and Sunrun is paid for dispatching the batteries.

News item from Sunrun