Sunrun, a provider of clean energy as a subscription service, is now operating the nation’s first vehicle-to-home power plant using a small group of customer-owned bidirectional electric vehicles.
In partnership with Maryland’s largest utility, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation, the regulator-approved initiative uses all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning trucks to deliver power to owners’ homes in summer 2024 during peak demand times to support Maryland’s power grid.
The program includes three Sunrun customers in BGE’s service territory who own an F-150 Lightning paired with Ford Charge Station Pro and Home Integration System, which is sold exclusively through Sunrun. This program is the first operational bidirectional EV power plant in the United States that uses a cohort of customer vehicles.
“This program is a significant proof of concept — no other market player has done this — and the goal is to expand these programs all around the country,” says Sunrun CEO Mary Powell. “This exciting partnership lays the foundation for the power grid of the future, where electric vehicle owners can contribute to grid resiliency and utility price stability for everyone. The summer heat can be especially stressful on our power grid, which is why proving the use of stored energy in electric vehicles for capacity is so important.”
BGE was awarded grant funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to create an EV virtual power plant. BGE partnered with Sunrun to develop and administer the program, which is designed to assist BGE’s system during times of peak energy consumption. By discharging F-150 Lightnings’ onboard batteries directly to participants’ homes, the program showcases how EVs can function like stationary batteries to reduce demand on the grid and create a more resilient and reliable energy system for all BGE customers in Maryland.
Sunrun is networking and monitoring the enrolled F-150 Lightning trucks as they share stored energy during dispatch windows from June 1 to September 30, 2024, between the hours of 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays. All funding will flow to enrolled customers, who will receive a payment based on the amount of energy shared — estimated to be $800 over the four months of the program.
“We know that the power stored in electric vehicles will be essential in our state’s effort to achieve its bold net-zero emissions goals,” says Mark Case, vice president of Regulatory Policy and Strategy at BGE. “Partnering with Sunrun will allow BGE to unlock and learn the potential of how vehicle-to-grid programs will support increasing grid efficiency and reliability with distributed energy resources, while providing a valuable new benefit to customers.”
Sunrun has an existing partnership with Ford Motor Company to serve as the preferred installer for Ford Intelligent Backup Power, which includes the Ford Charge Station Pro and the co-developed Home Integration System — the first commercially available bidirectional system in the U.S. Intelligent Backup Power allows customers to use bidirectional power technology from their all-electric trucks to provide up to 10 days of power to their homes during an outage, depending on home energy usage.