pwr_january-2025 - 22

DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESOURCES
efficiency loans, reduced costs for efficient
or renewable technologies, and
water conservation incentives, " said
McLaughlin. " These programs further
support technology and encourage more
residential and commercial adoptions of
smart energy technologies. "
Virtual Power Plants
A program set to roll out this spring in
Texas (Figure 3) highlights how the use
of DERs can reduce household energy
costs and help support a more stable
power grid. A collaboration among Renew
Home, a leader in VPP technology;
NRG Energy; and Google Cloud aims to
develop a nearly 1-GW AI-powered VPP.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas
(ERCOT), the grid operator for much of
the state, continues to warn of rolling
power outages during storms, an all-toofamiliar
scenario in recent years for many
residents of Texas.
The companies recently said their
partnership would provide hundreds of
thousands of VPP-enabled smart thermostats
to eligible Texans. The thermostats
would allow for subtle shifts
in energy use during times of peak demand,
helping ensure efficient grid management
and also providing cost savings
on energy bills. The groups said that as
the VPP network grows, it could include
more assets such as home batteries and
EVs, increasing the project's potential to
support grid stability.
" This marks a pivotal step forward
in our efforts to deliver more value and
an enhanced experience to customers
while empowering them with our virtual
power plant capabilities, " said Rasesh
Patel, president, NRG Consumer. " By
partnering with industry leaders like Renew
Home and Google Cloud, we are
set to deliver cutting-edge, AI-driven
solutions that will bolster grid resilience
and contribute to a more sustainable
future. We are excited about the transformative
impact this collaboration will
have on our customers and the broader
energy landscape. "
The residential VPP works by aggregating
numerous, small-scale DERs
such as HVAC [heating, ventilation, and
air conditioning] systems controlled by
smart thermostats and home batteries,
and coordinates those resources to
balance electricity supply and demand.
Advocates for VPPs have said that equipping
homes with these smart devices
gives control to the electricity consumer,
supporting solutions to save both money
and energy.
22
3. The virtual power plant (VPP) collaboration led by Renew Home and NRG Energy is set to
roll out this spring in Texas. Courtesy: Renew Home
NRG in partnership with Renew Home
plans to offer Vivint and Nest smart thermostats,
including professional installation,
at no cost to eligible customers
across NRG's retail electricity providers
and plans. The thermostats make automatic
adjustments to heating and cooling
systems to help customers shift their
energy use to times when electricity is
less constrained and less expensive, and
can also take advantage of renewable
energy resources. The program combines
smart devices, energy intelligence,
and AI to provide a more modern and efficient
energy experience.
" State policy is critical to unlocking
DER and residential VPP adoption, with
two topics in particular rising to the forefront, "
said Keven Brough, vice president
of Strategy and Market Development
for Renew Home. " States should implement
regulatory frameworks that offer financial
incentives for utilities to integrate
VPPs, enabling those utilities to earn a
return on investment-similar to an investment
in distribution infrastructure. "
Brough told POWER, " VPPs are going
to be most successful at helping customers
reduce energy bills if it's easy for
households to enroll in grid-integrated
programs and take advantage of emerging
utility rate mechanisms like time-ofuse.
This means we need policies that
permit customers to choose to share
their data with VPP providers and that
don't impose unnecessary or complex
burdens on creating a good customer
enrollment experience. "
Ben Brown, CEO of Renew Home,
told POWER: " There are so many promising
ways we can meet increasing load
demand with residential DERs, including
solar, battery storage, and EV charging.
With peak load demand rising at
such a rapid clip, we are thinking about
www.powermag.com
how we can leverage DERs to solve our
grid capacity issues today, and believe
the fastest way to scale capacity is with
HVAC connected to smart thermostats
and grid integrated programs. By leveraging
large load devices already in
people's homes, we can widen access
to DER participation, meaning more
people benefit from the value of VPP
programs, and we can provide nearly
immediate relief to the grid. "
NRG said the utility will work with
Google Cloud on a multi-year technology
plan to maximize the impact of the
VPP and other strategic initiatives. NRG
will use Google Cloud's data, analytics,
and AI technology to better predict
weather, improve forecasts of wind and
solar generation output, and create predictive
pricing models.
Utility Programs
David Naylor, CEO and president at Rayburn
Electric Cooperative, a Texas-based
power provider, told POWER his company
launched its DER program in 2023
with a member, Farmers Electric Cooperative,
taking the lead. " We've implemented
a generator program which will
manage the ERCOT 4CP exposure, " said
Naylor, referencing a demand charge program
within the ERCOT system.
The 4CP refers to Four Coincident
Peak program calculations for distribution
service providers. Said Naylor,
" There are 40 active generators, representing
830 kW in potential peak reduction.
On behalf of another member,
Trinity Valley Electric Cooperative, Rayburn
assisted in obtaining a DOE [U.S.
Department of Energy]-sponsored CIDER
grant to create a DER program including
batteries and thermostats. " The
CIDER (Community Integrated Distributed
Energy Resilience) program provides
POWER| January 2025
http://www.powermag.com
pwr_january-2025

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