Tesla’s virtual power plant beta with Pacific Gas and Electric now has 1,763 homes. Two weeks ago the number was 1,262 homes. Rick Davis shares the real-time tracking link, where the number of homes Tesla VPP powers will be shown. It is being tracked by Last Bulb, where Tesla and PG&E incited 25,000 customers to take part in the VPP.
The customers who are part of it, are also part of the world’s largest distribution battery, which supports grid reliability. There was also a question, “Do we have any news on how many participating homes it takes to offset the need to fire up a temp power plant running off fossil fuels?”
NEWS: @Tesla's new Virtual Power Plant Beta with PG&E now has 1,763 homes in the fleet, up from 1,262 ~2 weeks ago.
h/t @RickDavisSF pic.twitter.com/SymAHgwvsR
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) July 16, 2022
He noted that although the math itself was fuzzy, the daily reserve of the California grid is 2.9k MWh. Based on the live tracker, the test is 43 MWh maximum in a reserve capacity. He added that it proves its ability and estimated 50,000 Powerwalls in California. There are less than 3,500 in the test. However, if all 25,000 customers took part in the test, I think, this would show some very promising data.
Tesla stated on the website, “The California grid operator forecasts a continued need for Californians to support the grid through 2021. Help create the largest distributed battery system in the world and avoid dependence on the least efficient fossil fuel power plants. Opt-in to the Tesla Virtual Power Plant (VPP), and Tesla will dispatch your Powerwall when the grid needs support while continuing to maintain your energy security.”
California
California’s grid is expected to have an exceptionally difficult few months, with record high temperatures increasing energy demand on the grid and a significant drought affecting hydropower plants, like the Hoover Dam. Tesla plans to enable homeowners in California who currently have Powerwalls to opt into the virtual power plant program and allow some capacity of their energy storage to provide power to the grid.
The benefits of joining the Tesla VPP beta include Stabilizing California’s grid, Cleaning the grid, uniting as a Tesla community, keeping your energy secure, export credits during peak periods. The extra capacity your Powerwall provides could help avoid or reduce blackouts in a severe emergency. This way, Powerwall can keep the lights on for both the user and the community. Tesla will dispatch the user Powerwall when the grid is in critical need of additional power. That is when the least efficient generators would typically come online. Powerwall will discharge during VPP events but won’t discharge below the user backup reserve. By adjusting backup reserve they can control the contribution while maintaining backup energy for outages.
