On July 7, 2022, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and Tesla Inc. announced that they have launched a new virtual power plant (VPP) pilot program to help support electric grid reliability and save customers money.[1] Tesla invited approximately 25,000 PG&E customers with Powerwall home battery systems to join the VPP on June 22, 2022. Since then, more than 3,000 customers have expressed interest, and more than 1,500 customers have enrolled in the program. These 1,500 customers could provide between 8 and 10 MW of capacity. Enrollment will continue through October 2022. PG&E customers are eligible if they have an interconnection agreement with PG&E, a Tesla Powerwall, and are not enrolled in other demand response programs. Participating customers will receive $2 for every incremental kWh of electricity their Powerwall discharges during times of high demand.

Through this partnership, Tesla is participating in the utility’s Emergency Load Reduction Program (ELRP) by “enrolling and combining residential Powerwall home battery systems into a virtual power plant to discharge power back to the grid in California during times of high electricity demand.” The ELRP is a five-year pilot started in 2021 to pay consumers for reducing electricity consumption or boosting supply during grid emergencies. In 2021, the utility had about 150 MW of VPPs that could function as demand response in its overall portfolio.

[1] https://www.pge.com/en_US/about-pge/media-newsroom/news-details.page?pageID=d9202eba-9562-4aea-9a76-382b0e4a3a30&ts=1657823764842