The Time is Now for a Consumer-Led Energy Revolution With Distributed Power Plants

Across the country, the effects of our changing climate are growing more costly by the year, affecting consumers, the environment, and increasingly, our energy system. Just last month, when Texas experienced scorching triple-digit temperatures, fuel-burning power plants struggled to maintain production. During peak hours, when air conditioning was keeping people cool, more than 10 GW — enough power for roughly 7.5 million homes — was knocked offline.?

Such a dramatic loss of power posed a significant threat to the grid’s operational stability. Luckily for Texans, renewable energy resources such as solar and storage delivered energy when it was needed most. This story, in which solar and storage prevent grid failure, will become more common in the coming years. I’m extremely proud that Sunrun, and our customers, are playing a leading role in this resiliency journey through our recently activated distributed power plant initiatives in California, Puerto Rico, and other states.?

And yet, to combat climate change, there is now a consensus that we have to electrify everything and power it with renewable electricity. Our aging grid is going to become increasingly important.?

A Faster, Smarter, More Affordable Solution?

I recently had the privilege of sharing the stage at the Net Zero Conference with Lunar Energy 's CEO Kunal Girotra and Canary Media Inc. 's Jeff St. John John to discuss the significance of distributed power plants and how they are currently being implemented to help create climate-resilient communities and to speed up the clean energy transition.

We had a great conversation about how orchestrating home solar and storage systems into distributed power plants is playing a vital role in helping utilities meet rising electrification demands and boosting grid reliability in the face of extreme weather. Due to their unique ability to scale rapidly, distributed power plants can speed up the transition to a cleaner, more secure and affordable energy system while also offering a vast potential for smart technology. Utility-scale solar projects, though essential for achieving net-zero emissions, typically take six years to become operational. Sunrun, on the other hand, installs a nuclear plant's worth of home solar and storage annually at a fraction of the cost and an exponentially faster rate.

Customers want to play an active role in revolutionizing grandpa's grid, which was not designed for today’s energy demands. Through our innovative distributed power plants, I’m pleased to say they are at the center of the solution financing and building an energy system that’s more flexible, reliable, scalable, and cost effective for all.

Empowering Californians to Protect the Grid?

California is no stranger to grid interruptions. According to PowerOutage.us, Californians have experienced more than 87 million hours without power. Sunrun is pioneering innovative solutions with home solar and storage to restore grid stability for everyone.?

At the beginning of 2023, we announced a groundbreaking collaborative distributed power plant initiative with PG&E — Peak Power Rewards — to provide meaningful and flexible support to California’s grid. In just six months, Peak Power Rewards became the largest contracted and operating distributed power plant in U.S. history with more than 8,500 Sunrun customers actively participating. Running exactly on schedule, Peak Power Rewards is up to 34 megawatts of stored solar energy shared back to the grid every day from August through October. No other dispatchable resource can be scaled and operationalized as quickly.

It’s remarkable to see individual homes coming together to fortify California’s electrical system and provide energy stability to their neighbors and communities. And for sharing their stored solar energy, each participant received an upfront payment of $750 and a free smart thermostat. It’s truly a win-win-win for the climate, the grid, and customers’ pocketbooks.?

Helping Forge a New Age of Resiliency In Puerto Rico?

Plagued by more than 300 million hours of disruption in 2022 alone, Puerto Rico leads the U.S. in power outages, a byproduct of the island’s aging oil and gas infrastructure. In an effort to minimize this instability while increasing energy independence, Sunrun has partnered with Puerto Rico’s utility provider to develop the Battery Emergency Demand Response Program, a first-of-its-kind distributed power plant that focuses on rapid emergency response using thousands of residential solar and storage systems.?

Just like Peak Power Rewards in California, Puerto Rico’s customer-led distributed power plant is preparing to come online and play an active role in grid security while accelerating the clean energy economy. Enrolled Sunrun customers will share energy when grid demand is highest and in turn be provided financial opportunity to earn hundreds of dollars for participating. In this way, Sunrun’s distributed power plant isn’t just helping protect the integrity of Puerto Rico’s grid but is also realizing tangible economic benefits for local residents.

The Customer-Led Energy Revolution?

Home solar and storage is a scalable, consumer-friendly, and cost-effective climate solution that can play an instrumental role in modernizing the U.S. grid. Sunrun’s collaborations with PG&E and Puerto Rico are showcasing this, paving the way towards a fully distributed and renewable grid that benefits both people and the planet.?

By embracing this customer-led energy revolution, we can restore resiliency to the U.S. grid while ushering in a new age of carbon-free electricity that benefits everyone.

Mary Powell