Orange & Rockland and Sunrun To Bring Innovative Rooftop Solar and Battery Network To New York
June 17 2020 - 10:20AM
Orange & Rockland (O&R) and Sunrun Inc. (Nasdaq:RUN), the
nation’s leading home solar, battery storage and energy services
company, today announced the companies have received approval to
deploy rooftop solar and battery systems as part of an innovative
virtual power plant project supporting New York’s transition to
clean, reliable, locally generated electricity.
Beginning this year, Sunrun will bundle rooftop solar energy
stored in more than 300 Brightbox battery systems and deliver it to
the electricity grid when called upon by O&R. O&R and
Sunrun’s implementation plans were accepted by the New York Public
Service Commission (NYPSC) last Friday. By bundling and
coordinating the energy stored in Sunrun’s Brightbox home battery
systems, Sunrun will form a virtual power plant to partially offset
demand on O&R’s electricity grid in key areas, while providing
clean, reliable, locally-generated solar power to residents in
Orange and Rockland counties.
The program identifies new ways for Sunrun’s Brightbox home
battery systems to create value for the electric grid, enabling
Sunrun to earn compensation from O&R for managing and
dispatching the networked home solar and battery-stored energy.
O&R will in turn benefit by leveraging these local resources to
reduce electricity load on O&R’s heavily used distribution
system in these areas. By participating in this program, O&R
customers will gain access to clean energy provided by Sunrun’s
home rooftop solar and Brightbox battery storage systems at a
discounted rate.
Virtual power plants are growing in popularity as utilities and
grid operators increasingly see the value afforded to the
electricity system by residential solar and battery storage. Sunrun
and O&R’s initiative builds on this momentum and further
demonstrates the value of local clean energy resources as a
resource for electric utilities.
O&R Vice President– Operations
Francis W. Peverly said, “This initiative will help our
customers to incorporate new technologies and assist in maintaining
efficient, resilient, reliable and sustainable electric
operations.”
“New Yorkers know all too well the importance of resilient and
reliable electricity. Through our initiative with O&R, we are
excited to bring the benefits of Brightbox home solar and batteries
to more New Yorkers while helping build a cleaner, more resilient
electricity system,” said Lynn Jurich, Sunrun co-founder
and Chief Executive Officer.
Clean energy produced from rooftop solar panels is stored in
Sunrun’s Brightbox battery throughout the day. If there is an
outage, Brightbox provides backup electricity to the customer’s
home and enables them to power through the night until the
following morning when the sun rises and recharges the battery.
Customers have the choice to back up everything from their entire
home to simply essential appliances, depending on the type of
battery they choose.
O&R will begin reaching out to its customers in select areas
in the coming months to inform them of the opportunity to adopt
Sunrun’s Brightbox solar-powered battery system.
As a community-based company, O&R is very mindful of its
customers’ continuing anxiety as New York begins to re-open its
cities, town and villages in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic’s
stay-at-home orders. O&R’s and Sunrun’s efforts to market this
new program are dependent on the re-opening’s progress. Even then,
in the month ahead, initial marketing activities will be conducted
by mail, telephone and internet. No one will come to your home
about this program unless you invite them. If you do invite them
over, company representatives will follow Center for Disease
Control (CDC) health guidance, including masking and maintaining a
social distance.
Last year, Sunrun won a historic bid to deliver bundled home
solar and battery power as a source of energy capacity to ISO New
England, the grid operator for one of the largest electricity
markets in the United States. In July 2019, Sunrun was awarded a
landmark contract by the East Bay Community Energy (EBCE) board of
directors to help replace the retiring jet-fuel Oakland Power Plant
in Oakland, California with home solar and battery systems on
low-income housing in West Oakland and Alameda County. In August
2019, it was announced that Sunrun will participate in Hawaiian
Electric Company’s emerging grid services market by delivering
electricity from home solar and batteries to the utility as part of
an innovative Grid Services Purchase Agreement with Open Access
Technology International, Inc. (OATI).
About Orange & Rockland
Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R), a wholly owned
subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s
largest investor-owned energy companies, is a regulated utility.
O&R provides electric service to approximately 300,000
customers in southeastern New York State (where its franchise name
is Orange & Rockland) and northern New Jersey (where it’s
Rockland Electric Company) and natural gas service to approximately
130,000 customers in New York.
About
Sunrun
Sunrun Inc. (Nasdaq:RUN) is the nation’s leading home solar,
battery storage, and energy services company. Founded in 2007,
Sunrun pioneered home solar service plans to make local clean
energy more accessible to everyone for little to no upfront cost.
Sunrun’s innovative home battery solution, Brightbox, brings
families affordable, resilient, and reliable energy. The company
can also manage and share stored solar energy from the batteries to
provide benefits to households, utilities, and the electric grid
while reducing our reliance on polluting energy sources. For more
information, please visit www.sunrun.com.
Orange & Rockland Media Contact:
Mike Donovan Manager, Media Relations
donovanm@oru.com (845) 577-2430
Sunrun Media Contact: Shane Levy Media Manager
press@sunrun.com (201) 697-9507
Sunrun Investor & Analyst Contact:Patrick
JobinSVP, Finance & IRinvestors@sunrun.com(415) 373-5206
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