By Katie Davis
This week my family signed a “SoCal Edison Virtual Power Plant Enrollment Form,” officially making our house with its solar and battery system part of a Virtual Power Plant.
Definition: A Virtual Power Plant (VPP) is a network of small to medium-sized energy resources, like solar and energy storage, that can be centrally controlled by the grid operator in support of, or in place of, a large central power plant.
Benefits: Adding a battery to my solar system saves me money by letting me shift energy use to less expensive times and provides energy backup if there is an outage. Enrolling in the VPP got me a $1000 off the battery in exchange for letting SCE draw energy from my battery when the grid needs extra juice. Even better, I’m helping keep our energy grid reliable and our beaches and air clean.
The History: It all started with the proposed Puente gas plant, yet another polluting fossil-fuel plant on the Oxnard beach. The Oxnard community and social justice organizations like CAUSE rose in opposition, sick of the industrial pollution and health impacts. Sierra Club formally intervened with state regulators, noting that sea level rise made the beach a poor choice for new infrastructure and that renewable energy alternatives should be considered instead.
I attended some of those hearings and the turnout was amazing. And it worked. The Oxnard power plant was scrapped, and 195 MW of battery storage were contracted instead.
The ground was breaking for Virtual Power Plants in grassroots activism, such as at this 2017 hearing opposing the Puente gas power plant in favor of electricity sources, like solar panels and battery storage. In foreground, Oxnard Sierra Club activists Mike Stubblefield and Liz Lamar, and CAUSE activists gather at the hearing.
The Future: Most of this will come from large banks of batteries being deployed everywhere from Oxnard to Goleta. A particularly innovative part of this regional solution is that some of it will come from residential customers like you and me. Swell Energy 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.
“Solving today’s energy needs in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties with Swell’s virtual power plant showcases the value of strategically deploying these projects to reduce the region's reliance on power from fossil fuels,” said Suleman Khan, CEO of Swell Energy.
Join our roof top revolution
The Sierra Club’s “Rooftop Revolution” campaign to add more solar power is continuing with an offer of a free solar evaluation for your home with discounts. A Tesla Powerwall is also available.
“We continue to be amazed by the number of people interested in going solar with Sierra Club,” according to the campaign.
Hundreds of people in or near the Los Padres Sierra Club have requested a solar quote and actual installations nationwide are growing by the thousands.
“You can lock in your electricity rate for the next 20 years, free yourself from dirty energy, and do it all with no upfront investment,” said the club’s executive Director Michael Brune, who had a system installed on his home, as did Condor John, editor of Condor Call.
Swell Energy is the company that will assess and install the system using local contractors, and it has a leasing program. The program, in most cases, will fund the installation of a Tesla Powerwall home battery system that can keep your medical equipment and other parts of your house operating during the outages for a limited time.
Be a part of a local solution to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels by installing a Tesla Powerwall to provide backup power and participate in the distributed clean energy grid of the future! You’ll get $1,000 for participating and Swell Energy will donate $500 to the Sierra Club. In addition, there are state cash-back rebates and federal tax incentives available that may cover up to 100% of the system’s cost.
Get a free quote from Swell Energy that will detail your solar options, show you what your home would look like, and how much you would save at: http://www.swellenergy.com/SierraClub
You can also find a link to our webinar on home batteries here.