Tesla and Sunrun Home Batteries Push 580 MW to California Grid in Record Dispatch

During a September heat wave, home batteries coordinated by Tesla and Sunrun delivered 580 megawatts to California’s grid, the largest residential distributed power plant event on record.

The three-hour evening dispatch drew on more than 140,000 home batteries spread across the state, feeding power back to the grid as air-conditioning demand peaked and the system came under heavy strain. By pooling thousands of residential storage units into a single virtual power plant, the two companies showed how consumer-owned batteries can be marshaled at scale when the grid needs them most.

The record figure underscores the growing role of distributed energy resources in supporting grid reliability, particularly during extreme weather events that push electricity demand to its limits.