Tigo announces expanded eligibility for virtual power plants

If you have a home battery, there's a growing way to earn money from it just by letting your utility tap into it occasionally. Tigo Energy says its solar and battery equipment is now eligible, or soon will be, for these "virtual power plant" programs in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Virginia. A virtual power plant is essentially a network of home batteries that a utility can draw on during high-demand periods, and homeowners get paid or credited for participating.

Tigo already had eligible programs running in other states, including Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, North and South Carolina, Puerto Rico and Texas. The company keeps an updated list of active and upcoming programs on its website.

To take part, you need a system using Tigo's "Energy Intelligence" inverters along with its EI or Go batteries. Enrollment happens through the Tigo EI App or its online EI Portal, and once signed up, your utility can access stored energy in your battery at specific times in exchange for rewards.

Separately, Tigo now supplies some of its module-level power electronics, hardware that helps manage solar panel output, to EG4 Electronics for use in EG4's inverters. This means Tigo's U.S.-made components are showing up in more equipment on the market, even under other brand names.

If you already own a compatible Tigo system in one of these states, this is a chance to check whether a program in your area now applies to you.