SolarEdge just became a qualified home battery storage maker for Pacific Power’s new Wattsmart Battery Program, which offers incentives for solar battery installations in Washington and Oregon.
The utility now offers cash incentives to residential and commercial customers who install qualifying solar batteries and let Pacific Power use that stored energy to support the grid during peak demand. SolarEdge is now on the approved list, and its high-efficiency, DC-coupled batteries are eligible for serious perks.
Here’s how the deal works: If you’re a homeowner in Oregon or Washington and install a SolarEdge battery, you can earn $600 per kilowatt – up to $3,000 per battery – for joining the program. Commercial customers can qualify for the same $600 per kilowatt, with a cap at 30 kW. That upfront payment goes a long way toward cutting battery costs, which can be a barrier for many people.
In return, Pacific Power gets to tap into the batteries to balance the grid in real time, manage peak energy loads, relieve congestion on local circuits, and, on the home front, the batteries still provide backup power during outages.
It’s not a new idea for Pacific Power – the utility already runs similar virtual power plant programs in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming, with thousands of SolarEdge batteries already in the mix. Now, it’s expanding that model to the Pacific Northwest.
“SolarEdge’s batteries and established installer network have shown they can effectively integrate with our Wattsmart Battery Program,” said Shawn Grant at PacifiCorp, which operates Pacific Power. “Their technology supports our goal of building a more resilient and flexible grid.”
Marty Rogers, general manager of SolarEdge North America, says, “Participants can earn up to $3,000 per battery while taking advantage of our DC-coupled architecture, which avoids triple energy conversions to deliver higher efficiency and more usable solar energy. It’s a smarter, cleaner, and more cost-effective way to maximize backup power and savings.”
The Wattsmart Battery Program is now live for customers in Oregon and Washington.
Read more: The US’s largest virtual power plant now runs on 75,000 home batteries
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