LUMA Energy on Nov. 2 announced the launch of a Customer Battery Energy Sharing initiative, a battery emergency demand response program, to help improve service reliability for customers in Puerto Rico.
This pilot program will provide participating solar customers with battery storage systems an opportunity to contribute to increased grid stability by helping to increase energy reserves during peak demand periods to reduce rotating outages caused by generation shortfalls.
When needed, renewable energy service providers will activate batteries owned by customers enrolled in the CBES to supply energy to the grid, helping to reduce energy demand and improve system reliability, benefiting all customers across Puerto Rico.
LUMA will partner with renewable energy service providers to manage the program and enroll, including Sunnova Energy International Inc., the first provider to join the CBES initiative.
Additional renewable energy providers, including Fortress Power, Sunrun and Tesla, have joined the program and will be reaching out to their qualifying customers to invite them to enroll in the initial pilot phase of CBES.
Customers participating in CBES will be compensated by their renewable energy provider for their battery response and energy contributions.
LUMA’s CBES initiative is one of many programs the company is launching as part of its “Building a Better Energy Future” initiative to improve customer service, reliability and community safety over the next 12 months.
Since June 2021, LUMA has connected over 71,000 customers to rooftop solar panels, representing more than 451 megawatts of renewable energy for the Puerto Rico grid.
With an average pace of over 4,100 new solar connections added every month, LUMA is connecting customers to rooftop solar panels at the highest and fastest rate in the history of Puerto Rico. This record growth of solar and battery storage systems is one of the key reasons LUMA was able to develop its CBES initiative.
In June 2020, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and the Puerto Rico Public-Private Partnership Authority selected LUMA Energy to operate, maintain and modernize the electricity transmission and distribution system of PREPA for fifteen years through a public-private partnership.
