American solar energy services company Sunrun has won a contract to provide 20 MW of solar power from its Brightbox home solar and battery systems to US grid operator ISO New England. Power supply for some 5,000 New England customers will begin from 2022.
Sunrun's Brightbox solution provides solar power at all times of the day along with back up power in the event of a grid outage.
What makes this development important is the fact that it marks the first time in the US that home solar and battery storage has directly participated along side centralized power plants in a wholesale capacity market. Sunrun says this 'signals a transformational shift away from the traditional, more polluting centralized electricity model, with big power plants, towards a system powered by local clean energy like home solar and batteries'.
ISO New England selected 145 MW of renewable energy capacity in its annual capacity auction, the 13th Forward Capacity Market (FCM), for power system resources to meet peak demand in 2022-23, out of total 34,839 MW allotted.
All the winning capacity will be sourced for $3.80 per kW per month. In the previous year, the auction closed at a preliminary clearing price of $4.63 per kW per month.
For Sunrun, it will be a new source of revenue generation which it said will enable the company to further lower costs to its customers.
Bloomberg said it is the first time sunshine has been a significant participant in ISO New England Inc.'s annual forward capacity auction.