The virtual power plant developer is extending an existing model in Texas, California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts by bringing a solar-plus-storage power purchase agreement to Illinois homes.
Solrite Energy has launched its residential virtual power plant power purchase agreement (VPA) in Illinois and is already enrolling eligible households in the ComEd and Ameren service regions.
Under the deal, Solrite will install a home solar system and a 60kWh home battery for homeowners at no up-front cost. The firm then sells the solar power to the homeowner for 12 cents/kWh, with a 2.9% annual price increase over 25 years.
The Solrite PPA might be a great deal for homeowners who opt into the plan at that price, and could save them a lot of money in the long run. The $.12/kWh price is roughly 33% lower than the current bundled price of electricity from ComEd of about 18 cents per kWh, and the 2.9% average increase is lower than the 25-year average annual increase of 3.26% in Illinois electricity prices, according to data provided by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Customers who decide to sign up for a battery-only version of the VPA plan would pay a fixed charge of $20 per month for a 20-year period. They may be used with a customer’s current solar system (subject to a compatibility check) or on a stand-alone basis. Duracell provides the batteries, according to the company’s public-facing marketing materials.
The Illinois expansion aims to meet the growing demand in the state’s home solar industry. The elimination of full retail net metering for new solar customers in Illinois on Jan. 1, 2025, cut the financial attractiveness of solar-only residential installations.
Solrite claims its batteries may be a lifeline for Illinois residents who had their solar systems built after the net metering laws expired, enabling them to store and consume all the solar energy their systems produce and avoid exporting electricity to the grid for pennies-on-the-dollar credits.
The installations do feature a huge battery, but the firm normally does not promise a certain amount of backup energy at any given moment. That’s because the stored energy has economic value that the corporation may monetize through its VPP activities.
Solrite installs its fleet of batteries as a grid-supporting resource that stores on-site solar energy, shaves off residential peaks, and charges and discharges based on grid conditions.
Illinois is the fifth state in which Solrite has rolled out its VPP service, joining programs in Texas, California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and with the state’s array of incentives, it may be one of the most profitable for the firm.
In addition to earnings from electricity sales and payments from grid operators, Solrite also receives federal and state incentives, including payments for renewable energy credits (RECs) under the Illinois Shines adjustable block program.
Current REC pricing in Illinois is around $70 to $80 per MWh, depending on the utility region where the system is located. Vendors approved under the program are paid those prices for all the MWh a system is likely to generate in the first 15 years of operation.
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