Sunrun, Tesla and Renew Home launch 16 GW U.S. virtual power plant

Sunrun, Renew Home and Tesla have formed a partnership to create a virtual power plant (VPP) that will aggregate more than 16 GW of residential solar, battery storage and smart‑thermostat capacity across the United States. The VPP will provide dispatchable power to utilities and large‑scale data‑center operators, helping to ease grid congestion and reduce the need for new transmission infrastructure. Sunrun CEO Mary Powell said the system can be activated when data centres are asked to throttle during peak‑price periods, while Tesla’s senior director of residential energy highlighted the existing millions of batteries, thermostats and electric vehicles in homes as ready resources.

The companies already have about 300 MW of capacity available for immediate deployment in Virginia, with a target of at least 500 MW by the end of the decade and the ability to scale to gigawatt levels. The VPP framework also offers additional capacity to the PJM reliability back‑stop process. In parallel, Texas grid operator ERCOT has introduced a “Batch Zero” approval process to accelerate connection requests from large loads such as data centres, aiming to study projects in groups and improve allocation of grid capacity.