Puerto Rico homeowners earn payments by sharing battery power with the grid

Sunrun expanded its virtual power plant in Puerto Rico to serve more than 60,000 customers by connecting nearly 70,000 home batteries to the local grid.

The company began drawing from these distributed batteries for 18 consecutive days this fall to prevent the power system from straining during a period of extreme heat.

Residents who participate in the program receive payments for sharing their stored electricity, while maintaining the ability to decide how much power they keep for their own use during outages. Sunrun reported that customer participation in the program grew nearly eightfold between 2024 and 2025. The grid operator LUMA also manages a Customer Battery Energy Sharing program involving over 90,000 customers. This initiative delivered roughly 75 MW of power when the island's electricity supply ran short.

These programs allow the grid to tap into household storage automatically when demand or reserve needs exceed available electricity. The U.S. Energy Information Administration noted that Puerto Rico residents face high electricity prices and frequent outages, with average outage times reaching 36 hours in 2025. These battery sharing systems help stabilize the grid and provide residents with a way to earn money from their home energy equipment.