Hurricanes, heat domes, and holding up the grid with home batteries [update]

More utilities are paying homeowners to let their solar batteries help the grid during hurricanes, heat waves, and other extreme weather. These setups, called virtual power plants (VPPs), link hundreds or thousands of home batteries so utilities can draw on stored power instead of building costly new grid infrastructure or firing up fossil-fuel "peaker" plants during high demand. The idea has grown fast: the share of solar customers adding a battery jumped from 6% in 2020 to 25% in 2024, driven largely by Tesla's Powerwall.

For homeowners, joining one of these programs can mean real money. Tesla's California VPP, run with utilities PG&E and Southern California Edison, has paid Powerwall owners $2 per kilowatt-hour contributed during grid emergencies, with typical payouts of $10 to $60 per event — Tesla paid out $9.9 million to Powerwall owners in 2024 alone. Similar programs have since spread: California is rolling out a $6,000 rebate for new home batteries, Vermont has made it easier to add battery backup, and Tesla launched a program in Texas letting Cybertruck owners earn money from their vehicle's battery.

If you already have, or are considering, a home battery or solar-plus-storage system, it's worth checking whether your utility or state offers a similar program, since availability and payouts vary by location. The article notes that federal incentives supporting home solar and batteries may not last much longer, so current programs could change.