Tesla and Sunrun deliver record 580MW to California grid

Tesla and Sunrun coordinated a record-breaking residential virtual power plant dispatch, delivering 580 megawatts (MW) of electricity to the California power grid during a severe heatwave on September 9. The event involved over 140,000 residential batteries, including 110,000 Tesla Powerwalls which contributed 517 MW, and 63 MW from other battery storage systems.

The dispatch was triggered by extreme demand and high wholesale electricity prices exceeding $200 per megawatt-hour. The operation was managed through two state programs: the California Energy Commission’s Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS) and the California Public Utilities Commission’s Emergency Load Reduction Program (ELRP).

Sunrun CEO Mary Powell noted that the scale of these distributed home batteries is now larger than many peaker power plants combined. A report by The Brattle Group suggests that such programs could provide up to $206 million in net cost savings to Californians by 2028 by reducing the need for new infrastructure and stabilizing the grid during peak demand.