LUMA, a Puerto Rico electrical utility, has acquired the inexperienced mild to construct a digital energy plant (VPP) with Tesla Powerwalls in Puerto Rico.
It ought to assist with the territory’s main points amid warmth waves.
Puerto Rico was an early marketplace for Powerwalls.
Following the island’s electrical grid being badly affected by a hurricane again in 2017, Tesla concentrated its at-the-time restricted provide of Powerwalls to Puerto Rico.
Final 12 months, Tesla stated that Powerwalls had been powering over 44,000 houses in Puerto Rico.
Extra not too long ago, Drew Baglino, Tesla’s head of engineering, that VPPs can be quickly coming to Puerto Rico and Texas, and he confirmed that Tesla had 350 MW of capability within the former by Powerwalls.
That might imply about 50,000 Powerwalls within the territory.
This week, the Puerto Rico Tesla VPP is changing into nearer to actuality because the native Vitality Bureau issued a brand new order to authorize Luma Vitality to construct the Powerwall-backed VPP in Puerto Rico.
Arushi Sharma Frank, vitality markets coverage lead and senior counsel at Tesla, commented on the brand new order:
The order got here the identical day that Luma warned of potential brownouts all through its community as a result of excessive demand due to a warmth wave.
If the VPP was in operation, Tesla Powerwall homeowners might doubtlessly cut back the height demand by as much as 350 MW and doubtlessly keep away from brownouts within the territory.
These homeowners would additionally get compensated for saving the grid on these events – making Powerwalls extra financially viable.
Tesla’s California digital energy plant has already proved profitable in its first 12 months, and the corporate can also be launching two new VPPs in Texas.