A virtual power plant (VPP) project consisting exclusively of Tesla Powerwalls on the island of Miyakojima in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, has now become the largest of its kind in the country.
The Miyakojima VPP project began in 2021 and today comprises more than 300 Powerwalls, Tesla said in a Japanese blog post. It is the first (and largest) commercial VPP in Japan to utilize the Powerwall, Tesla’s residential energy storage solution.
A virtual power plant is a network of distributed energy storage systems that can be tapped to supplement the local power grid in times of high demand.
VPPs consisting of household energy storage batteries like the Powerwall not only contribute to the houses they are installed in but also help stabilize the local energy grid, make the power supply more reliable, and prevent power outages (even during natural disasters).
The Miyakojima VPP project is supported by a special program from Miyakojima Mirai Energy Co., Ltd. that waives the initial installation costs for a solar power generation system and storage battery.
Nextems Co., Ltd., a Tesla Powerwall certified sales and construction company, handles Powerwall installation on the island. The same company is also responsible for Powerwall aggregation, using Tesla software to control and optimize charging and discharging across the VPP.
Tesla expects the Miyakojima VPP to grow to 400 Powerwalls by the end of this year, and 600 units by the end of 2023. The company also plans to expand after 2024.
The company unveiled its own virtual power plant project in California last year. As of earlier this month, more than 2,600 homes with Powerwalls installed are enrolled in Tesla and PG&E’s California VPP.
Tesla has also entered a partnership with CenterPoint Energy to debut a similar program in Texas.
You can check out a video of the Miyakojima project on Tesla’s website.
