Your Home Battery Can Be Part Of A Virtual Power Plant In California
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Sunrun pulls in customers with a catchy truth about the unpredictability of life, and electricity. To be sure that your house stays alive with power, even if the grid goes down, Sunrun’s rechargeable solar battery systems are one solution. They can make sure your home’s power stays stable and reliable, which we mostly take for granted but can become a problem if you’re struck by a hurricane in Florida or wildfire-related outages in California.
More options are arriving as well. In some regions, your batteries can also help others keep their power on and the grid active. Sunrun and Southern California Edison are partnering and expect to create one of the country’s largest virtual power plants.
Edison International writes, “For the next year, up to 300 SCE and Sunrun Brightbox home energy system customers will be part of a network, or virtual power plant, that can be called on to send clean energy back to the grid.”
“California is leading the way to 100% clean energy for all. We’re excited to work with SCE to bring the benefits of Brightbox rechargeable solar batteries to more Californians through this innovative partnership,” said Lynn Jurich, Sunrun cofounder and CEO.
The new program should demonstrate the responsiveness of virtual power plants. Delivering energy to the grid in a decentralized energy actually helps with grid reliability and grid security. If this program delivers clean energy as hoped and projected, it is another step forward for many Californians. Stable, reliable, and consistent supply of energy is needed there. Clean energy can provide that and is critical to a hopeful future.
There are reportedly no concerns for the customer with this virtual power plant system, even when it comes to pulling energy from their batteries. The virtual power plant makes use of energy stored in the batteries for the grid as needed, but leaves plenty of reserve power in the battery for the customers’ use.
“Customers won’t notice any difference in how their system works and they will receive a $250 incentive at the end of the first year of operation.”
SCE will tap into the batteries up to 80 times throughout the year. Sometimes due to normal peak energy demands and sometimes due to extreme weather events putting a strain on the grid, for example.
“For California to meet its carbon neutrality goal by 2045, we estimate that 40 gigawatts of energy storage will need to be added to the grid, including 10 GW from hundreds of thousands of residential customers in the future. The clean energy from these home energy systems will benefit all of our customers.”
— Jill Anderson, SCE Senior Vice President
Fossil fuels need to be replaced. Solar energy and battery storage are breaking through to solve that problem. Innovative solutions like this virtual power plant pilot will soon be the norm, an expected and essential part of a resilient clean energy grid.
Edison International: “SCE’s Pathway 2045 outlines the need to integrate large amounts of utility scale and residential solar energy and energy storage, including 110 GW of solar and 40 GW of storage, into the grid to meet the state’s carbon neutrality goals.”
This is a way for more homeowners who are interested in realizing the benefits of clean energy and contributing to a brighter future to participate. Join if you are able to.
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