Virtual Power Plants and the Environmental Benefits

Written by Madeline Acri, Storage Manager at Soligent

Happy Earth Month. Spring is all around us and we are moving full steam ahead in Q2. April is a great time to reflect on how we can help the planet. As individuals, it can feel daunting to make small steps towards leading a more earth-conscious life. The good news is solar plus storage is one way we can contribute towards a more carbon free world.  

How is solar plus storage beneficial, you may ask. There are plenty of ways for storage to strengthen our electrical grid. Virtual Power Plants, or VPPS, are a great way utilities can introduce new cost saving methods or resiliency to their electrical portfolio. Similar to microgrids, VPPs aggregate many energy storage resources and assist the grid based on what the grid needs in real time. After all, the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. 
A few examples of VPPs in the US include Sonnen’s Soleil Lofts 600-battery apartment complex, Green Mountain Energy’s “Bring Your Own Device” program in Vermont, and Portland General Electric’s “Smart Battery Pilot”. In our upcoming webinar, we will dive deeper into these programs so that you can learn more about how you can participate in a virtual power plant.

The webinar discussed in this article took place on April 21, 2021. This link to the recorded webinar can be located at this link: https://bit.ly/3viwhVU