Austin Energy is launching an innovative Battery Demand Response Pilot program designed to give customers new ways to support grid reliability while earning performance awards.
The Power Partner Battery pilot encourages residential customers to purchase and install home battery storage systems. Homeowners will receive $500 upfront to purchase a new battery to store excess energy. Participants can receive an additional average incentive of more than $300 annually in exchange for allowing Austin Energy to use the battery's stored energy during periods of peak demand. The pilot is limited to 1,500 approved systems.
A demand response program pays electric customers to reduce their electricity consumption or to deploy their battery during peak demand times to reduce strain on the power grid and avoid outages and high costs. The utility is targeting 78 megawatts of demand response by 2027 and 270 megawatts by 2035 as part of its Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan.
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