LUMA Tapped Sunrun’s Batteries for 18 Straight Days — SkimNews
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- Sunrun has doubled participation in its Puerto Rico virtual power plant to more than 60,000 customers, following growth from about 4,000 in 2024 to more than 30,000 in 2025, and says it is the largest aggregator in Puerto Rico’s Customer Battery Energy Sharing (CBES) program.
- LUMA tapped Sunrun’s home batteries for 18 consecutive days in October, with daily deployments beginning October 13 during unusually hot weather.
- Sunrun says nearly 70,000 batteries in its VPP frequently deliver 45 MW for four hours at a time and have been dispatched more than 60 times since April.
- LUMA reported in July that more than 90,000 customers in the broader CBES program helped provide an average 75 MW during generation shortfalls; the grid operator calls CBES when expected demand or reserve needs exceed available generation.
- Puerto Rico averaged 36 hours without power in 2025 even excluding major events, up 19% from 2024; major events added another 23 hours, compared with about two hours a year for mainland U.S. customers under the same measure.
- CBES aggregators told regulators in an April filing that the program could not prevent every 2025 rolling blackout because some supply gaps exceeded its roughly 50 MW four-hour capacity; they seek more batteries to cover larger shortfalls.
- Puerto Rico residential electricity averaged 26.36 cents per kilowatt-hour in August, compared with the 18.16-cent U.S. average, according to EIA.
Why it matters: The growth gives LUMA added dispatchable capacity without waiting for a new power plant, while most participating households are paid for sharing a small portion of stored energy. But aggregators told regulators that roughly 50 MW of four-hour capacity did not prevent every 2025 rolling blackout, and they are seeking more batteries for larger gaps.
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