Image: @mr_calico/Twitter
Tesla successfully conducted its first virtual power plant (VPP) emergency response event in California. Powerwall owners in the state provided access to their batteries' backup capacity to support the state's power grid.
California is now experiencing a noticeable increase in temperature, which entails increased energy consumption. Peak hours are especially challenging when the grid is under the most stress due to higher demand and limited power supply. In this regard, PG&E has issued alerts asking its customers to voluntarily save energy in the afternoon and evening.
On August 17, due to the situation in the state, the Tesla VPP demonstrated itself for the first time as the first emergency response took place. The manufacturer turned to the participants of the program, who agreed to participate in the event. Each of them also had the option to opt-out if they needed the full power of their Powerwall or for other reasons. Several program participants shared photos and videos of how their systems are helping the state's power grid.
PG&E 2342 homes 16 MW at the moment over here pic.twitter.com/2CRLfolOrl
— Calico (@mr_calico) August 18, 2022
According to the screenshots, the event was attended by 2,342 Powerwall owners in the PG&E grid and 268 homes in the SCE grid, which has just begun to take shape. The Tesla PG&E VPP was producing over 16,600 kW at one point in the event. The Tesla SCE VPP produced 1,535 kW of power at one point during the event.
Tesla is committed to building the world's largest distributed battery that will keep California's power supply clean and reliable and therefore continues to roll out its efforts to help the state. A few days ago, the company expanded its program to Southern California, and this has already yielded the first results for the entire state. As part of the Tesla VPP, attendees receive $2 for each additional kWh that their Powerwall delivers during an event.
© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.
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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts; follow him on Twitter
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
