How to Run a Virtual Power Plant From Your Luxury Apartment
Some new complexes include high-tech energy amenities, including lithium batteries the size of a fridge that can store solar electricity and supply it to the grid when needed.
Soleil Lofts, a new luxury apartment complex outside of Salt Lake City, offers the usual upscale amenities—gourmet kitchens, a yoga studio, a pet playground—along with one unique perk. In each of the 600 apartments stands a gleaming 7-foot-tall white monolith that stores electricity generated by a 5.2-megawatt rooftop solar array.
That’s because Soleil Lofts was built not only to provide what the developer touts as “the perfect lifestyle,” but to operate as a virtual power plant (VPP). Rocky Mountain Power invested in the project and controls Soleil Lofts’ 600 lithium-iron-phosphate batteries. That allows the utility to tap a portion of the 12.6 megawatt-hours of carbon-free electricity stored in the batteries as needed to help balance the power grid. Soleil Lofts’ ecoLinx batteries, made by Germany’s Sonnen GmbH, also keep the lights on in each apartment during blackouts.