Tesla and Sunrun set record by supplying 745 MW to California grid — Electrek

In California, on October 6, home batteries supplied a record 745 MW of power to the electricity grid during the evening peak in a joint Tesla and Sunrun resource dispatch. As Electrek reports, more than 85,000 Tesla Powerwall owners provided over 600 MW of that total.

The new result was 28% higher than the previous record of 580 MW, set by the companies less than a month earlier. Tesla called the event the largest Powerwall virtual power plant dispatch in history. According to the publication's calculations, Powerwall batteries provided approximately 80% of the total capacity.

Grid relief during the heat wave

The batteries were dispatched during an October heat wave at the request of the California Energy Commission and the state's energy companies. Home batteries supplied stored electricity during a several-hour evening period to reduce demand and lower real-time electricity prices.

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Sunrun said that on October 5, the Demand Side Grid Support and Emergency Load Reduction Program programs simultaneously announced resource dispatches across all service territories of participating energy companies for the first time this year. According to the company, more than 120,000 home batteries are already connected to California grid programs.

Plans in the San Jose area

Sunrun also reported preparations for a distributed power plant in the San Jose area, funded by Google and being created together with PG&E. It is planned to involve nearly 21,000 devices with the participation of Tesla and Everyday Electric, a company formerly known as Renew Home. Initial electricity deliveries are expected this month.

The project is the first concrete stage of a plan to create a 16.8 GW virtual power plant for data centers, which Tesla, Sunrun, and Renew Home announced in June. At the same time, Sunrun noted that Tesla's and Everyday Electric's participation in this project is currently based on a non-binding letter of intent.