Harnessing stored energy from the rooftop solar panels on around 1,000 homes on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, Sunrun Inc. and software partner Open Access Technology International Inc. plan to provide utility Hawaiian Electric Co. Inc. with grid services from one of the world's largest virtual power plants starting in 2020.
"This is a landmark moment for Sunrun, for Hawaii, and the future of energy in our country," Lynn Jurich, Sunrun's co-founder and CEO, said in a Sept. 4 news release. "This program is a clear demonstration that rooftop solar and batteries are driving the creation of a more locally powered energy system, and provide important value to customers, utilities, and the broader electricity grid."
The Hawaii system is the latest of a number of virtual power plants that have launched in 2019, offering grid services to utilities and independent system operators from battery-backed distributed solar arrays.
Solar homes in Oahu, where Sunrun is creating one of several |
Sunrun secured a roughly 5,000-home project in New England in February, plus a network of more than 500 low-income housing units in Oakland, Calif., in July. Sunrun is also in negotiations on a virtual power plant in Southern California.
Several other solar and storage companies, as well as utilities, are developing or supporting virtual power plants. Sonnen Inc., a recently acquired subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, in late August announced a virtual power plant at an apartment community in Utah that features more than 600 batteries.
'Just the beginning'
In Hawaii, Sunrun and Open Access Technology International will send bundled renewable energy stored in approximately 1,000 Sunrun residential battery systems to the Oahu power grid at the utility's request during periods of high energy demand or high risk of blackouts. Hawaiian Electric Co. is a subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc.
The program, which will last at least five years, "goes beyond offering just capacity," Audrey Lee, Sunrun's vice president of energy services, said in an interview. The network will also provide ancillary grid services like fast frequency response, she said.
New and existing customers of Sunrun who participate in the program will receive electric bill credits and a $200 gift card for signing up, in addition to $50 donated in their name to a local non-profit group that teaches Hawaiian languages.
"This is just the beginning," Lee said, noting that Hawaiian Electric Co. recently issued a request for proposals for grid services from distributed energy resources. Virtual power plants are a "crucial" tool to enable deeper decarbonization of power grids, she added, by providing zero-carbon electricity at times of peak power demand.
The project is the inaugural virtual power plant in Hawaii, which in 2015 became the first U.S. state to pass a 100% renewable energy law.

