Sunrun, a residential solar and energy storage provider, has connected over 16,200 California homes to a virtual power plant (VPP) to supply electricity during high-demand events in the summer. The VPP is a virtual aggregation of small-scale, distributed energy resources (DERs) such as PV, energy storage, electric vehicle chargers, and demand-responsive devices such as water heaters, thermostats, and appliances. The program is expected to reduce strain on the grid and provide power to local California communities to prevent power emergencies. Last year, Sunrun’s VPP supplied utility Pacific Gas & Electric up to 32 MW of power during peak demand hours from over 8,500 customer batteries. This summer, the company is set to double this enrollment and capacity serving the grid.
Solar Dominates US Energy Capacity Growth
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has published data showing that solar accounted for over 75% of US electrical generating
