Swell Energy has set up two virtual power plant programs with Southern California Edison (SCE) customers, now open for enrollment. The VPP programs are available to SCE customers in various Orange County, Ventura County and Santa Barbara County neighborhoods who are interested in installing solar powered home batteries. VPP-enrolled customers can finance their energy storage systems through Swell financing and install a second battery at a reduced price.
VPPs offer a compelling way for homeowners, business owners and utilities to collectively meet today’s shifting energy needs by unlocking the potential of solar energy stored in an onsite battery. Participants in Swell’s southern California VPP programs further benefit by earning GridRevenue when consuming their stored energy in the evenings, providing much needed relief to the grid during peak times. Adding a second battery to the system further increases participation levels in the VPP and opportunities for GridRevenue, while simultaneously expanding power security on site. Swell’s VPP program began operating earlier this year.
“In SCE’s service area, our VPPs shift solar power consumption to peak demand periods en masse. By doing so, these programs provide the savings and energy security homeowners and businesses want, while increasing the local grid’s flexibility and resilience,” said Suleman Khan, CEO of Swell Energy. “Swell VPPs ensure homeowners receive the maximum value from their home battery, and that utility VPP sponsors and adopters benefit from a large fleet of strategically placed batteries. Our ongoing energy programs with SCE are great models for the future of our electric grid in general.”
The Orange County VPP Program is part of SCE’s second Preferred Resources Pilot and will deliver energy to SCE customers during peak demand periods for the next 15 years. Swell is actively enrolling 2,000 residents and small businesses in Orange County into this VPP to create a 20-MWh clean energy resource from within SCE’s local customer base. This neighborhood VPP program is ideal for homeowners and businesses across the spectrum of sizes and utility bills, and applies to all customers who wish to get a battery, including those who already have a solar energy system.
The Santa Barbara County and Ventura County Program was developed in response to Senate Bill 801, which directed SCE to deploy energy storage to help regions affected by the partial shutdown of the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility. The VPP will help the utility manage load, increasing reliability and replacing grid-stabilizing functions formerly provided by the gas facility. SCE awarded the VPP program as part of SCE’s Aliso Canyon Energy Storage procurement program. Swell is actively recruiting approximately 6,000 homes and small businesses in the project area to create over 14 MW of capacity and demand response capabilities for a 10-year period. Swell is growing its industry partner network from forty to sixty partners in the coming months to meet program demand.
These VPP programs for SCE customers represent two of six such distributed power plant contracts Swell is launching with utilities across various markets through its capital partnership fund. In all, Swell’s existing utility contracts will provide VPP energy services across 15,000 homes and small businesses in the United States.
News item from Swell
MICHAEL ONEAL says
Ah, but the control freaks can’t control it! The nuclear freaks can’t weaponize it! The need for huge power lines that spawn forest fires and result in hundreds of deaths will not need to be insured.
Never mind the pollution of the current gag energy policy. Existing roofs will suffice and farmland can stay farmland.
Solarman says
Folks in California are in a particularly ‘unenviable’ situation. With stacked ‘mandates’ on decarbonization, all home electrification and getting rid of ICE car sales in California by 2035, electricity is king and the king is hungry. It has been projected the “average rate” of electricity costs in California for IOU SCE and PG&E are going to climb to around $0.34/kWh by 2030, SDG&E is looking at and average of $0.47/kWh by 2030. Right now many people in California are paying on ‘average’ $0.20/kWh to $0.25/kWh. There are those who have retro fitted homes with all electric, smart circuit breaker panels, solar PV and smart energy storage that can pay for these efficiency upgrades in around 12 years, maybe less. IF the home owner designs the solar PV system to handle average daily charging on a BEV or two, then the system can pay for itself in energy costs within 5 years. Right now there are utilities across the U.S. bragging on their electricity rates around $0.09/kWh to $0.11/kWh, I have found (often) these do not count rate spiking programs like the often used TOU periods that spike up electricity rates for about 4 to 5 hours after the solar PV peak generation tails off for the day. The reality with prices of solar PV panels now, it is justifiable to over design the solar PV array and store excess energy each day to run into the night time TOU period to save money on electricity costs each day.
One day these cheap energy resources will have a day of reckoning, when it costs way too much to operate these facilities at a profit. The utility will file a rate case with the PUC or SCC to increase electric rates and the inflation begins. As their braggadocio $0.11/kWh increases up to around $0.16/kWh, then into the $0.20/kWh and beyond price range, solar PV will become a necessity, not a choice. When these old fueled generation resources are dropped from the utility grid, the utility will file a rate case for an electricity cost increase to pay off “stranded assets”.