US first: Residential VPP activated in wholesale capacity market
Sunrun, a US home solar, battery storage and energy services provider, has completed its first successful season running a residential Virtual Power Plant (VPP) in a wholesale capacity market, touted as a first-of-its-kind in the country.
In the summer months of June through August, Sunrun’s VPP in New England – a northeastern region of the United States comprising the states of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island – shared more than 1.8GWh of energy back to the grid.
Thousands of Sunrun home solar systems across New England exported excess clean solar energy during the peak demand window of 1pm to 5pm, aiming to reduce overall energy demand and relieve stress on the region’s energy grid.
The VPP also helped minimise the use of expensive, polluting peaker plants while reducing energy costs across the region and ensuring a reliable source of power.
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“It is tremendous that we are able to work with ISO-NE (Independent System Operator – New England) to integrate local home solar and battery systems into the wholesale markets, and we thank them for their leadership,” said Mary Powell, CEO of Sunrun.
“This is a wonderful example of radical collaboration and demonstrates the importance of every market operator leveraging local clean energy resources to solve capacity constraints and grid reliability. As more severe and frequent heat waves, arctic freezes and other climatic events continue to stress our nation’s grid, we strongly encourage grid operators, utilities and policy makers alike to leverage these amazing solar energy resources.”
Home solar and batteries, especially when networked together to form VPPs, can significantly support the grid and reduce peak demand.
In an August report, ISO-NE detailed how home solar helped keep wholesale system demand below the average forecast throughout a heat wave in July, despite the region’s heat index hitting 100 degrees or more.
In addition, it is hoped that VPPs will provide greater demand flexibility, which is critical as New England shifts to a winter-peaking system and customers further electrify their transportation and heating.
This milestone comes at a critical economic period for Americans who face skyrocketing energy costs, record inflation and severe heat waves that are prompting grid operators across the country to issue energy conservation warnings.
