Virtual Power Plants

We have had a busy month at the Loan Programs Office. We had hundreds of meetings with potential loan applicants in Houston, I want to thank everyone at #CERAWeek who came by to meet my colleagues from the Loan Programs Office to learn how our office can help your company scale up through our new programs. This week we launched our #Liftoff reports to detail how the private sector is using all of the new legislation that has passed recently to scale up #Hydrogen , #Nuclear , and #LongDurationEnergyStorage . The energy transition is accelerating!

This month I’m focusing on how DOE’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) can support?virtual power plant ?(VPP) projects to add demand flexibility, increase affordable clean energy access, and prepare the grid for electrification at scale.

As the U.S. economy rapidly electrifies to meet climate targets, the grid will face an unprecedented increase in demand. VPPs can help smooth that transition.?VPPs are aggregations of electrified, grid-connected devices such as air conditioners,?grid interactive efficient buildings ,?solar-plus-battery-storage systems , and plugged-in electric vehicles. When combined, these distributed energy resources (DERs) use, store, and/or generate significant amounts of energy. DERs can provide energy at a lower price than what the grid typically offers. They do so more cleanly while offering consumers greater resilience during adverse grid events.

By time-shifting and shaving electricity demand through DER management, VPPs can reduce a utility’s reliance on natural gas peaker plants and reduce the strain on transmission and distribution infrastructure. VPPs can decrease emissions and increase utilization of assets and capital efficiency, thereby reducing the energy cost burden on consumers and improving reliability.?A leading study?estimates ?that by 2050, VPPs could avoid 44-59 million metric tons of CO2?emissions per year. By avoiding generation build-out and new power infrastructure investments, VPPs can?help avoid $17 billion ?of annual power sector expenditure in 2030.

VPPs rely on DER deployment at scale, and it is imperative to help make affordable, resilient, and clean energy accessible to all Americans.?VPP software used by both consumers and VPP operators can reduce device electricity use during peak grid stress or, in some cases, prompt DERs to supply electricity to the grid, making VPP-enabled DERs a powerful collective tool—a “virtual power plant”—to support grid reliability in an increasingly electrified world.

LPO can support the adoption of VPP-enabled DERs through the?Title 17 Clean Energy Financing program .?As of the end of February 2023, VPP was the fifth most requested?sector ?based on cumulative requested loan authority (over $300 million per project), behind only Advanced Vehicles & Components, Advanced Nuclear, Carbon Management, and Biofuels applications.??For more current details, view LPO’s?Monthly Application Activity Report , which explains the level of interest from applicants for LPO financing and what technology sectors have been most actively engaged with LPO.

To deepen understanding of how DOE can spur VPP deployment, LPO is supporting Secretary Granholm as she crosses the country to compile insights from those driving trailblazing aggregated energy projects. A few weeks ago, I joined the Secretary at her first VPP Listening Roundtable in Austin, TX, to discuss with the Energy Reliability Council of Texas’ ADER Taskforce the reliability benefits of its statewide 80 MW VPP pilot. Future roundtables will highlight how lessons from other exemplary VPP projects can be applied in diverse energy markets across the United States.

For more insights into the market dynamics of VPPs and an overview of how LPO is actively working to support scale-up of the VPP sector, see:

• DERs aggregated through VPPs through a combination of software and hardware can promote?demand flexibility .
• VPPs can promote?affordable clean energy ?to combat rising energy costs and provide an alternative to new infrastructure buildout.
• Solar plus storage ?can be combined in VPPs to maximize benefits of DER deployment to the grid.
• Two years after the announcement of?FERC Order No. 2222 ,?VPPs are just beginning to compete at scale , and utilities continue to have an important role to play.

VPP news roundup:

• Nexus Labs Podcast -?Jigar Shah wants to fund your virtual power plant
• Automotive News -?EV virtual power plants could?provide support in times of peak demand
• Canary Media -?Jigar Shah's big idea for getting rooftop solar and smart appliances to low-income Americans ?
• Reuters -?What is a virtual power plant??
• Canary Media -?Home of the future: Climate-friendly, electrified and closer than ever ?
• PV Magazine -?Real barriers to virtual power plants

VPPs offer an exciting opportunity to create clean power solutions that are greater than the sum of their parts. The power plants may be virtual, but VPP technology’s potential to democratize the coming clean energy economy will be very real.