How to sign up for a virtual power plant—and decide whether you should
Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) allow utility companies to manage household energy devices like smart thermostats and EV chargers to balance grid demand. Participants receive financial incentives in exchange for allowing utilities to throttle their energy usage during peak times.
Why it matters
VPPs represent a shift toward decentralized energy management, which is essential for integrating renewable energy and improving grid resilience.
Utilities are lowering energy bills in exchange for more control over your electricity use. Here’s how to get involved.
MIT Technology Review ’s How To series helps you get things done.
Your thermostat may not look like a power plant. Neither does your electric vehicle, home battery, or HVAC system. But utility and energy companies increasingly want to treat them like one.
A virtual power plant , or VPP, is a collection of household devices (such as smart thermostats, electric-vehicle chargers, home batteries, and solar panels) that a utility can control. Usually that means commanding the devices to draw less electricity during peak hours. For example, the utility might adjust your thermostat or delay or slow EV charging when electricity demand is high.
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