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Sunrun is building the nation’s largest virtual power plant to participate in a statewide program designed to bolster California’s strained power grid and reduce power outages by providing load generation during extreme events.
Sunrun (Nasdaq: RUN), the nation’s leading provider of clean energy as a subscription service, has integrated more than 16,200 customers’ solar-plus-storage systems to support California’s electric grid during the hot summer months. Sunrun’s CalReady power plant will reduce grid stress by providing critical power to communities in need throughout California to reduce costs and prevent power outages.
For the second year in a row, Sunrun is demonstrating how uniquely capable, reliable and affordable its solar-plus-storage systems are as essential grid solutions. In the summer of 2023, Sunrun’s Peak Power Rewards program provided Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) with up to 32 megawatts of power from 8,500 customers’ batteries during evening peak hours. This summer, Sunrun is expected to nearly double that capacity and the number of participants for its statewide Demand Side Network Support program.
“We are at the forefront of a customer-led revolution towards a cleaner, more affordable clean energy future. Sunrun’s customers always step up to be part of the solution when presented with an opportunity to help,” said Sunrun CEO Mary Powell. “By sharing clean solar power, they are making California’s grid more sustainable for everyone. Sunrun’s CalReady is the nation’s largest virtual power plant and serves as a model for what the power grid of the future will look like.
The Demand Side Grid Support program, developed and administered by the California Energy Commission, is part of California’s Strategic Reliability Reserve, which aims to increase power supply during heat waves, wildfires and other extreme events. As tens of thousands of registered batteries of aggregators stabilize the network, the risk of blackouts decreases.
As the largest aggregator in the Demand Side Network Support program, Sunrun will monitor and ship its customers’ registered batteries, making it a hassle-free experience. Sunrun customers enrolled in CalReady will be compensated for sharing their stored solar energy with the grid, and Sunrun will be paid to ship the batteries.
“Sunrun’s customer battery was awarded more in California,” Powell said. “A typical customer, while receiving compensation, won’t even feel like they’re sharing the energy they’ve saved to power the grid. As the first storage company, we are committed to stacking the benefits to deliver the most value to our customers, communities and network partners.”
CalReady is available from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM daily from May through October—the time of day and season when energy demand is greatest and the grid is most vulnerable to outages. Sunrun customers’ batteries will still maintain a minimum 20% reserve so they can continue to power their homes in the event of a local power outage.
“The advantage of Sunrun’s fleet of thousands of batteries is that they can be managed in a unified manner. It’s the scale, speed and power that make Sunrun’s virtual power plants so valuable,” said Chris Rauscher, Sunrun’s head of Network Services. “Just like how a centralized fossil fuel power plant is managed and dispatched by a single entity, Sunrun’s CalReady virtual power plant makes it a powerful contributor to California’s grid. Because CalReady is a distributed resource spread across households across the state, it is more robust and adaptable than a physical power plant.”
During the five months of the program, the California Energy Commission could call on Sunrun’s registered solar-plus-storage systems up to 35 times to provide additional power to the grid and the communities it supports. Enrollment for Sunrun’s CalReady is ongoing, and participation is expected to increase as customer engagement continues.
About Sunrun
Sunrun Inc. (Nasdaq: RUN) revolutionized the solar industry in 2007 by breaking down financial barriers and democratizing access to locally produced, renewable energy. Today, Sunrun is the nation’s leading provider of clean energy as a subscription service, offering residential solar power and storage at no upfront cost. Sunrun’s innovative products and solutions can connect homes to the cleanest energy on earth, providing them with energy security, predictability and convenience. Sunrun also manages energy services that benefit communities, utilities and the electric grid while increasing customer value. Learn more at www.sunrun.com
Press release from Sunrun
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