Tesla says about 69,000 California homes sent over 500 MW to the grid

Tesla Energy said in a post on X at 7:26 p.m. Pacific time on September 9, 2026 that "~69,000 Powerwall owners across California are currently dispatching more than 500 MW to the grid, helping meet peak demand during today's heatwave," which it called "Equivalent to the output of a power plant, but from Powerwalls already in people's homes." The attached image is a screenshot of Tesla's California Virtual Power Plant dashboard marked "Live as of: 7:17 PM PDT," showing 105,009 homes in California VPPs, 68,887 homes in a VPP event, 1,046 homes in backup mode, and 507 MW of battery power discharging, over a map of participating homes clustered around the Bay Area, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

The dashboard's caption names the programs behind the virtual power plant: Tesla's California fleet supports the grid "through programs including Demand Side Grid Support Program (DSGS) and Emergency Load Reduction Program (ELRP)," it says, and it credits Tesla VPPs with "the majority of power for a historic VPP event" in July 2025 "that delivered over 500 MW of capacity to the California grid." A Brattle Group report commissioned by Sunrun and Tesla Energy put the average net-load reduction in that July 2025 test event at 539 MW, roughly 1.9% of CAISO's net peak demand during the event, per the August 2025 release. Tesla's worldwide VPP page lists California among five regions with live dashboards. DSGS, the California Energy Commission's program, received no 2027 appropriation in the budget bill California passed on September 1.

The heat is on the record elsewhere: the National Weather Service's alert feed carried Extreme Heat Warnings for Southern California zones including the Inland Empire, Orange County, and San Diego County, and Heat Advisories for the San Joaquin Valley, in effect on the evening of September 9. What the post does not give is the event's duration, its energy in MWh, or which program called it; the dashboard's 507 MW is an instantaneous figure labeled "Battery Power · Discharging."