Sunrun announced its fleet is ready for participation in the Battery Emergency Demand Response program in Puerto Rico. This is the first distributed power plant program in the nation that specifically focuses on rapid emergency response from thousands of residential solar and storage systems when the island's aging oil- and gas-fired power plants fail or when electricity generation issues arise that could lead to rolling blackouts. Puerto Rico leads the U.S. in total hours of electricity outages.

Millions of residents collectively experienced more than 300 million hours of power disruptions in 2022, according to PowerOutage.us. In June, tens of thousands were without electricity as the island reached a record-breaking heat index of 125 degrees, knocking one oil-fired power plant out of service. This innovative distributed power plant program was formed in response to the island?s outages that regularly occur multiple times a week.

The program gives the utility provider on the island access to flexible and cost-effective power from residential energy resources in order to alleviate pressure on the power grid during periods of peak demand, combat climate change, and improve the dependability of the island?s overall energy system. Sunrun is ready to enroll its solar-plus-storage customers into the program and expects thousands of opt-ins as it prepares to respond to requests for emergency power. The program anticipates 75 to 125 dispatch events in the first year with an average duration of two hours.

Customers participating in the program will receive a pay-for-performance payment from Sunrun estimated at hundreds of dollars per battery, which can reduce costs and help stabilize the grid simultaneously. In the event of a local power outage, batteries enrolled in the program will retain enough backup energy to meet personal, essential needs. The Battery Emergency Demand Response program is separate from the 17-megawatt distributed power plant project Sunrun announced in Puerto Rico last year.

The company will begin enrolling 7,000 customers this year and will provide ?solar power to the grid every day at scheduled times beginning in 2024.