Last week, microinverter supplier Enphase Energy announced its participation in Arizona Public Service’s (APS) residential battery pilot grid services program. SolarEdge is also participating and more will be added soon, according to APS.
The distributed energy resource (DER) program offers two options for homeowners in APS’s service territory with batteries from participating vendors to earn money through one-time, upfront incentives. Customers who sign up for the program and simply share their data with APS, including basic information about them and their system, will earn $500 per installed kilowatt of battery capacity with a cap of $2,500 per home.
Alternatively, homeowners can enroll in the program, share their data with APS, and allow the utility to use the stored energy from their batteries on demand to provide grid services when they are needed. These customers will be eligible to earn the same $500 per installed kilowatt of battery capacity (up to $2,500 per home), plus an additional one-time payment of up to $1,250, for a total maximum incentive of $3,750 per home. Program participants will be enrolled for a term of three years with both options.
Developing a Common Approach to Aggregation of Residential DERs for Grid Resiliency is an educational session planned for next month’s DISTRIBUTECH International, set for Dallas from January 26-28. Register today!
APS expects to call upon enrolled batteries for additional power to meet demand up to 100 times per year. Participants must be APS residential customers and be on a Time-of-Use (TOU) service plan or a grandfathered service plan with a solar energy rate rider. The program is designed for newly interconnected batteries. Customers with existing batteries are not eligible to enroll.
“It’s a win-win for everyone. Homeowners get a more affordable battery, and the utility company gets a better understanding of how to scale distributed energy resources in the future,” said John Black, founder of Black Platinum Solar
“Batteries are now discussed in nearly all of our conversations with customers, whether for backup protection or additional savings by using stored solar energy at night,” said Ryan Saffarini, chief executive officer at PE Solar. “With this new incentive from APS, the math works out for many more homeowners to add new Enphase IQ batteries to their solar systems.”
