Sunrun has announced that its California distributed power plant will support the state’s electrical grid this summer with up to 425 megawatts (MW) of peak dispatchable capacity, making it one of the largest flexible energy resources in the state and the largest residential distributed power plant in the nation.
The power plant now has more than 80,000 households enrolled, representing more than 110,000 home batteries and a fivefold increase from its launch in 2024 with 16,000 customers.
For the first time, the distributed power plant will dispatch energy through two state grid service programs: the California Energy Commission’s Demand Side Grid Support program and the California Public Utilities Commission’s Emergency Load Reduction Program, operated under bilateral contracts with Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Southern California Edison.
“As electricity demand continues to grow, Sunrun’s power plants represent one of the fastest, most cost-effective tools available to grid operators,” said Sunrun CEO Mary Powell, in a statement.
Sunrun is able to support California’s grid every day from 4 to 9 p.m. through the summer and fall months, when demand is highest. If operated as a single front-of-the-meter battery project, Sunrun’s 425-MW distributed power plant would rank among the top 10 utility-scale batteries in California.
Powell continued, “Our California power plant leverages the flexible energy capacity sitting in tens of thousands of homes across California and is dispatched closest to where the energy is being consumed, putting downward pressure on prices and infrastructure needs.”
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