Sunnova Energy International Inc. says it will be deploying energy from its aggregated “Adaptive Homes” to alleviate peak capacity needs and strengthen the grid in a predominantly low- to moderate-income community within Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) northern California service area.

Sunnova’s aggregated portfolio of customers with solar+storage systems defers the need for PG&E to upgrade the distribution infrastructure at certain substations, cost-effectively extending the useful life of the existing grid infrastructure while accommodating for customer energy demand. PG&E’s annual Distribution Resource Plan (DRP) indicated that targeted areas of the distribution system will require increased capacity for only a handful of hours per year, and Sunnova’s distributed assets are positioned to efficiently meet that need while supporting clean energy and homeowner resiliency needs.

“Our virtual power plant capabilities can be leveraged through a targeted approach to relieve grid stress in focused areas during specific event windows within PG&E’s service area,” says McCrea Dunton, senior director, energy and grid services, at Sunnova. “Sunnova is proud to work with PG&E on one of its first deployments of behind-the-meter battery storage systems as a non-wires alternative that provides our customers with increased energy resiliency.”

Since the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) established the Distribution Investment Deferral Framework (DIDF) in 2018, the CPUC has approved over 34 MW of battery storage contracts for the state’s investor-owned utilities, with 16 MW awarded in PG&E’s service area.

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