Tesla Electric partners with SunRun to bolster Texas grid

Tesla customers will soon use home energy-storage systems to support the Texas power grid.

A partnership between Tesla Electric, a retail electricity provider operated by the automaker’s Tesla Energy, and solar company SunRun announced Tuesday is enrolling customers a program that will use Tesla Powerwall battery packs to supplement the grid during periods of high demand.

SunRun said that it has already enrolled 150 of its customers, and plans to further ramp up enrollments from there. Enrollment is open to SunRun customers who have that company’s solar panels connected to Tesla Powerwall batteries, and who have chosen Tesla Electric as their electricity provider.

While the company is enrolling them, these customers will actually be participating in a pilot program run by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the state’s electricity grid. They’ll receive $400 per Powerwall for participating in the program for the 2024 calendar year. SunRun will also earn incremental revenue from the program.

Tesla Powerwall – Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.

Battery backups can help bolster the grid in the event of severe weather, SunRun noted. Just three weeks ago, Hurricane Beryl caused power outages that, the company said, impacted nearly three million homes and businesses. And in 2021 a winter storm knocked out large portions of the Texas power grid.

This marks SunRun’s first pilot program in Texas, but the company has experience with home backup batteries. SunRun is Ford’s preferred installer for the backup power system sold with the F-150 Lightning, which was also used in a 2022 study by California utility Pacific Gas & Electric looking at how such hardware could interconnect with the grid. SunRun also provided free battery backup systems to low-income households in California through a state-funded program announced in 2020.