DRET BTM Residential Battery for Load Management Study

PG&E’s Demand Response Emerging Technology (DRET) Program initiated a residential Battery Study to investigate the potential to utilize residential photovoltaic solar systems paired with a home battery system to support state electric grid reliability. PG&E designed the study to learn more about how batteries are currently being used, to investigate the ability to recruit residential battery storage for grid operations, and to assess how batteries can be dispatched to better meet grid needs. Study participants allowed PG&E to manage the battery operations in response to hourly day-ahead market prices, TOU rates, and grid events. Customers elected the share of the battery storage made available for utility operations and the share of the battery reserved for backup storage. The study also implemented randomized control trials to assess how incentives and various recruitment techniques influenced participation rates.