Sunrun, a US-based residential photo voltaic installer, says almost 1,800 clients have already signed up for the PowerOn Puerto Rico digital energy plant (VPP). The program deploys saved photo voltaic vitality from clients’ batteries to the grid, stopping shortfalls within the island’s energy provide.
Residential photo voltaic installer Sunrun has developed a VPP so Puerto Ricans can contribute vitality from their solar-plus-storage system and strengthen the island’s electrical grid.
Sunrun stated that as of early May, it had enrolled almost 1,800 clients and greater than 2,000 batteries within the PowerOn Puerto Rico program, which launches in fall 2023.
The quantity makes Sunrun the biggest participant in Puerto Rico Battery Emergency Demand Response Program, administered by the island’s electrical utility, LUMA, in response to ongoing energy shortages. When LUMA detects shortfalls in energy provide, Sunrun’s battery fleet sends saved photo voltaic vitality from clients’ batteries to stabilize the grid and forestall blackouts and the usage of fossil fuels. gasoline energy plant.
Sunrun stated its present fleet of batteries on the island gives greater than 15 MWh of vitality to assist LUMA’s grid. An common of 40% of the storage capability is reserved for private backup in every buyer’s residence.
Customers are paid for his or her participation, which Sunrun predicts shall be not less than a median of $550 per buyer. The ultimate stage will depend upon the variety of energy sharing occasions per yr, with further charges for extra occasions.
Sunrun and LUMA anticipate that there shall be between 50 and 125 occasions every year that can require the fleet of enrolled Sunrun methods to supply on-demand vitality. A Sunrun spokesman stated pv journal the mission has been activated a number of instances within the final week alone.
“LUMA has referred to as Sunrun a dozen instances since final fall to activate our digital energy plant, with a number of emergency occasions — that means outages are imminent,” stated the Sunrun CEO Mary Powell. “The resilience of the individuals of Puerto Rico is actually outstanding. They are always evolving to assist their group by sharing their saved photo voltaic vitality and enhancing vitality reliability for all.
Puerto Rico has moved to construct a extra distributed vitality system after dismantling the island’s centralized vitality grid in 2017, following Hurricane Maria. It presently has 1.6 GWh of residential-sited batteries.
The island additionally tripled its distributed-generation photo voltaic capability in two years, recording 680 MW initially of this yr. It operates the biggest solar-plus-storage mission till December 2023.
In February, pv journal experiences Sunrun’s Peak Power Rewards, a program that pays California-based clients who dispatch energy throughout peak grid demand.
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