HOUSTON — Jeff and Jenny Wright have not paid an electric bill for their Houston home in more than a year. The couple sells unused solar-generated power back to the grid through a virtual power plant (VPP) network operated by Sunrun.

The Wrights’ home is equipped with rooftop solar panels that power their appliances and TVs, along with two Tesla battery packs mounted on the side of their house. These battery packs enable their home to join Sunrun’s VPP, storing excess energy and sending it back to the central grid during periods of peak demand. In Texas, the Wrights receive a $240 annual reward from Sunrun in addition to monthly credits of up to $30 once their own energy needs are met.

“I’m getting fairly close to retirement, so cost control for us is a big thing,” Jeff Wright said. He added, “I never notice it. The lights don’t dim. We’ve never come close to running out of energy.”

Sunrun currently has 107,000 customers nationwide enrolled in its VPP program and paid those participants $17 million for the energy they contributed. Paul Dickson, president of Sunrun, said, “The 100,000 homes that we do every year equates to the same output as a nuclear power plant. Smaller power plants that are being built in three to five years, we do every three to four months.”

Dickson noted that conventional power plants take 10 to 12 years to build, while nuclear facilities can require decades. In contrast, deploying a functioning VPP takes just a few months. He added, “The grid hasn’t seen growth for decades, and people don’t realize that. That’s getting turned on its head over the next 15 years — the grid is anticipating 40% growth, and so it’s a lot of strain on the same poles and wires.”

Sunrun aims to expand its fleet of dispatchable battery systems to 10 gigawatt-hours by the end of 2028. One gigawatt-hour equals 1 billion watts of power used or generated continuously for one hour. Virtual power plants like Sunrun’s are currently active or in development in 35 states and Washington, D.C., with the largest networks in California and Texas.