Sunrun house solar batteries to again SCE throughout excessive demand – Renewables Now

November 20 (Renewables Now) – US residential solar installer Sunrun Inc (NASDAQ:RUN) will supply 5 MW of capacity to utility Southern California Edison (SCE) from a virtual power plant of home solar-powered batteries.

The solar, storage and energy services provider has signed an agreement with SCE to dispatch energy from the virtual power plant so as to help the utility meet excessive demand. This will be done upon SCE’s request, Sunrun said on Thursday.

The virtual power plant will represent bundled capacity from Brightbox solar-powered battery systems installed by homeowners through Sunrun’s programmes. Apart from generating electricity, those facilities will provide backup power for households in case of power outages.

Sunrun said it will soon begin reaching out to customers to participate in the programme, with installations planned to begin at end-2020. The systems will become operational by August 2023. 

The contract between SCE and Sunrun will take part in California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO) Resource Adequacy (RA) programme. At least 10% of the committed capacity will be sourced from Brightbox systems installed on low-to-moderate income households.

“The need for a more resilient grid and backup power could not be more apparent in California at this moment in history,” said Lynn Jurich, Sunrun’s CEO and co-founder.