Tesla, Sunrun hail ‘win-win for the household and the grid’ with California virtual power plant test
A 535MW fleet of aggregated household battery storage systems, including Tesla Powerwalls, effectively reduced net load on the California grid in a recent test event.
The event took place on 29 July. During the evening peak between 7pm and 9pm, aggregators participating in virtual power plant (VPP) programmes with utilities discharged their portfolio of batteries into the CAISO grid.
The test was held in anticipation of heat waves likely to hit California in August and September, resulting in spikes in electricity demand.
Tesla, and solar and storage leasing company Sunrun, the two biggest aggregators involved in the test, commissioned consultancy The Brattle Group to analyse the findings.
VPP participants were in all three territories of California’s investor-owned utilities (IOUs), Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E).
