Utilities should build flexibility into their VPP strategy by avoiding rigid expectations around the future makeup of VPP assets and their growth trajectory. And major users of grid capacity like data centers and electrified fleets may soon end up being sources of grid capacity as well through energy storage or onsite generation. Another way utilities can create a VPP strategy that works for the long term is to build in flexibility around the types and quantities of DERs that may be connected to the grid. But rigid tariff structures will likely tie the utility’s hands in the future. It is natural to connect the two since one of the major benefits of a VPP is its ability to address peak demand situations. By making https://thecolumbianews.net/why-electric-boats-are-the-future-of-sustainable-boating.html flexibility a guiding principle, utilities can future-proof their investment.
To meet today’s load growth, utilities need to advance their analytics and “practically reinvent the way they see their systems,” she added. Policymakers want to both support economic development and protect consumers from rising electricity costs, Thomas said. Greater flexibility “could transform data centers from passive customers to grid assets” to improve reliability, lower costs, and speed connection, agreed an August 31 analysis from the Electric Power Research Institute. Using “flexible demand strategies,” U.S. power systems can meet over 98 GW of new demand from data centers and other large loads, according to a paper from Duke University’s Nicholas Institute.
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners has already drafted a resolution for its November meeting urging FERC to walk it back. It would require transforming the ANOPR’s high-level guidance into detailed, implementable rules. But accessing these benefits is no simple feat. Challenges as grand as facilitating new large load growth across this country while maintaining affordability and reliability for the rest of us require big solutions. See how edge intelligence is transforming utility operations—strengthening grid resiliency, improving reliability, and supporting affordability. Discover where you can meet Landis+Gyr experts, see our latest solutions, and connect with us throughout the year.
Addressing Energy Needs of the Future
- Consider below how grid operators employ a few important energy flexibility solutions to incentivize energy curtailment or shifting – and what actions are required.
- Should load emerge, DSM lightens the load that must be met with generation resources at lower cost than new supply-side investments.
- Advances in reliable, safe, and affordable transportation technologies provide societal benefits, along with both challenges and opportunities for grid operators.
- And the industry as a whole is grappling with what seems like insatiable new demand from data centers and artificial intelligence (AI).
- Catalyzing innovation and Market Transformation to support a more reliable, affordable and resilient energy system.
« The unique value of water heater and A/C loads is that the utility can control them at the circuit level, » Lazar said. Residential and C&I consumers « are buying the end-user devices, » but utilities are only « beginning to think about tools they need for those devices to benefit both consumers and the grid. « In the future, generation is expected to be more complicated and less dispatchable and utilities will need to forecast both generation and load, without full control over either, » Lubershane said. « In the future, generation is expected to be more complicated and less dispatchable and utilities will need to forecast both generation and load, without full control over either. » The related market complexities include providing regulatory guidance to utilities, putting incentives to adopt DER in place for customers, and giving third parties the opportunity to act as DER aggregators.
« When we started adding solar to our grid, we noticed changes in loads and load shapes and we recognized our existing fleet needed to be more flexible. » The program has attracted over 2,700 customers and now includes 11 MW of load flexibility through batteries, EV charging, water heaters and heat pumps, GMP spokesperson Kristin Kelly emailed Utility Dive. The Vermont utility and its customers « split the costs and benefits evenly. »
A focus on existing homes
By Ellen Steiner and Kessie AvseikovaWhen https://www.faststartfinance.org/2022/01/ we discuss the future of demand response (DR), the conversation often jumps straight to kilowatts, controls, and capacity. In all cases, our team ensures these data are accurate, clean, and stored in a structure that best support the analytic and security requirements of the project. Our team of data engineers and data scientists are adept at accessing multiple data formats, including designing and leveraging application programming interfaces (APIs) to automate the data pipeline. Our engineering team provides technical support to estimate and understand how storage and supply technologies such as electric vehicles, home storage, rooftop photo voltaic, and other disrupting prosumer technologies impact load flexibility as they interact with novel retail pricing solutions.
Projects also encounter uncertain and volatile revenue streams, or struggle to access financing on suitable terms. IEA analysis based on data from AEMO (2025), AER (2025), CAISO (2025), EIA (2025), DESNZ (2025), ERCOT (2025), Open Electricity (2025) and MaStR (2025). The https://dallasrentapart.com/a-new-unmanned-aerial-vehicle-was-created.html contribution of utility-scale batteries in meeting peak demand is increasing in many power systems. Battery storage can also help greatly with the secure and cost-effective integration of new types of loads such as EVs, heat pumps and data centres, where the consumption can be highly correlated across location and time. Battery storage has become one of the most versatile tools for providing short-term power system flexibility.
That’s part of why Tyler Norris, a former solar developer and a thought leader on load flexibility who presented last week, hopes it will become a choice for data centers if nothing else. And unlike other reforms repeatedly mentioned, such as a special tariff for data centers, the policy doesn’t easily translate to a rate case or other dockets before the panel. The Utilities Commission isn’t required to take action following its Oct. 14 and 15 meeting. In response to Kemerait, experts from Google and other tech giants, along with North Carolina’s predominant utility, Duke Energy, all voiced degrees of support for the notion. In addition to VOLTTRON™, PNNL brings a wide range of research and development experience to its work in residential load flexibility, including expertise in controls, software, buildings, and the grid. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office and supports the objectives of the Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings Initiative.
« Institutional inertia could lead to addressing reliability with investments that could become stranded, increasing costs to ratepayers. » Through 2030, load flexibility will « get smarter » and then « get bigger, » growth will be led by residential customers with new access to smart devices, and regulators will support pilots, Brattle predicted in its 2019 paper. The other approach is compensation to utilities that offset their losses of guaranteed returns for infrastructure investments, he said. It will likely require « layering incentives » to get adequately high « levels of engagement and participation. » The legislatively mandated integrated resource planning process includes « a pilot project opportunity » that allows regulators to green light load flexibility trials and the commission has multiple innovation sandboxes on DER ongoing. « I’m hired to understand and prepare Georgia for what will be needed in the future, » Georgia Public Service Commission Vice Chair Tim Echols told the symposium.