On the hottest afternoons this summer, thousands of internet-connected thermostats, home solar panels and battery systems helped reduce the strain on the electric grid. These 'virtual power plants' may be a key part of the future of electricity.
Through the ConnectedSolutions programs, residents with Smart Thermostats can participate in virtual power plants.
If that all sounds like something out of science fiction, energy experts say virtual power plants are already providing real benefits. They can decrease the likelihood of power outages when the grid gets overwhelmed. They can help slash greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding the use ofpower plants. And in the future, they may even save ratepayers billions of dollars by reducing the need to construct new power lines and other infrastructure to meet growing energy demands.
Together, these assets shaved peak energy demand by 375 megawatts, which is roughly equivalent to adding a medium-sized natural gas power plant to the grid. So far this summer, utilities in New England have called on thermostats 12 times to help manage the load on the grid and tapped home batteries 40 times. In four instances, they also asked commercial and industrial facilities to cut energy use.
“We’re only just at the beginning of this,” said Mike Judge, undersecretary for energy and environmental affairs in Massachusetts. “There’s a lot more of these resources that can be deployed, there’s a lot of potential here for even deeper reductions in peak demand as more customers adopt these technologies.”
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