This is the latest installment in Utility Dive’s “Taking Charge” series, where we engage with power sector leaders on the energy transition.
More than 16,200 residential solar-plus-storage systems will participate in Sunrun’s CalReady virtual power plant this summer, ready at a moment’s notice to supply power to the grid when demand peaks on hot evenings.
Participation in the virtual power plant, operated under the California Energy Commission’s Demand Side Grid Support Program, is nearly double the showing for Sunrun’s first-of-its-kind VPP pilot with PG&E last year. That collaboration resulted in “a real power plant” that peaked at 32 MW and averaged 27 MW over a two-hour peak every day for 90 days straight, Sunrun Head of Grid Services and VPPs Chris Rauscher told Utility Dive.