Sunrun’s ‘CalReady’ Power Plant Supports California’s Grid with 16,200 Home Solar-Plus-Storage Systems

Sunrun creates the country’s largest virtual power plant to participate in statewide program designed to strengthen California’s stressed electrical grid and reduce blackouts by providing load generation during extreme events

SAN FRANCISCO, May 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunrun (Nasdaq: RUN), the nation’s leading provider of clean energy as a subscription service, has networked more than 16,200 customers’ solar-plus-storage systems to support California’s electrical grid during the hot summer months. Sunrun’s CalReady power plant will reduce strain on the grid by supplying critical energy to communities that need it throughout California in order to reduce costs and help prevent power emergencies.

For the second year in a row, Sunrun is demonstrating how uniquely capable, reliable and readily available its solar-plus-storage systems are as an essential grid solution. In the summer of 2023, Sunrun’s Peak Power Rewards program supplied Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) up to 32 megawatts of power during evening peak hours from 8,500 customers’ batteries. This summer, Sunrun is expected to roughly double that capacity and participant number for the statewide Demand Side Grid Support program.

“We are on the forefront of a customer-led revolution to a cleaner, more affordable clean energy future. When presented with the opportunity to help, Sunrun’s customers always step up to be part of the solution,” said Sunrun CEO Mary Powell. “By sharing their clean solar power, they are making California’s grid more resilient for everyone. Sunrun’s CalReady is far and away the largest virtual power plant in the country and serves as a model for what the electric grid of the future should look like.”

Designed and administered by the California Energy Commission, the Demand Side Grid Support program is part of California’s Strategic Reliability Reserve which aims to boost energy supplies during heat waves, wildfires and other extreme events. As the tens of thousands of enrolled batteries from aggregators stabilize the grid, the risk of rolling blackouts is reduced.

As the largest aggregator in the Demand Side Grid Support program, Sunrun will monitor and dispatch its customers’ enrolled 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 for dispatching the batteries.