Tesla Powerwall To Be Used In New York Virtual Power Plant

Tesla Inc TSLA is well known for its Powerwall - a scalable battery solution for home or industrial use that can store extra solar power, and be used for backup power or in case of an outage. The largest Powerwall installation in the U.K. was completed at the end of last year. Larger, industrial-scale solutions are referred to as Megapacks.

Now a story from Electrek shares details of the latest virtual power plant that plans to use Tesla's Powerwalls.

Swell Energy, whose founder used to work for Tesla, will be using the Powerwalls in a small-scale virtual power plant. Swell works with energy companies to put Powerwalls into behind-the-meter energy storage projects. They can then subsidize the installations of the home battery packs in exchange for access to the batteries when needed. Customers then get a cheaper backup solution, while the utility gets more flexible power when needed.

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Swell will be working with Con Edison in Queens, New York. It will cover 300 homes and provide around 500kW of energy. Homeowners in Forest Park, Glendale, Hunters Point, Long Island City, Maspeth, Middle Village, Ridgewood, Sunnyside, and parts of Elmhurst, Forest Hills, Rego Park, and Woodside can apply to be part of the program, according to Swell.

Photo courtesy of Tesla.