Google and Voltus announced on 22 October an expanded agreement for a 1-gigawatt virtual power plant across the PJM grid region, up from a 100-megawatt agreement earlier this year. Google said it will fund a programme that pays homes and businesses to reduce electricity use at peak times. PJM serves 67 million people across 13 states and Washington, DC.
Key points
- Google says it will fund 1 gigawatt of capacity assembled by Voltus from homes and businesses in PJM.
- Participants can receive bill savings and cash payments for reducing demand or making battery power available.
- Voltus is seeking customer commitments through 2040, compared with a three-year term reported for the original agreement.
- CNBC-TV18 reports the expanded programme at up to 1,070 megawatts, rather than Google’s 1-gigawatt figure.
Google funds the PJM expansion
Voltus will combine flexible electricity capacity from smart thermostats, batteries and industrial equipment into a virtual power plant: separate resources coordinated to act as one grid resource. Google says participating customers will receive bill savings and cash payments. Their equipment can reduce electricity use when demand peaks, while batteries can make stored power available.
Google described the expanded portfolio as 1 gigawatt. CNBC-TV18 reported it as up to 1,070 megawatts. The outlet also reported that Google had not disclosed the financial terms of the expanded agreement.
The original arrangement was a three-year programme announced in June, Utility Dive reported on 19 October. Voltus officials told the publication that the contract made Voltus responsible for Google’s capacity obligation. That account concerned the 100-megawatt agreement, before the expansion announced on 22 October.
Google has also signed a 20-year nuclear power deal backed by more than $4.3 billion in upgrades, AI Affairs previously reported. The Voltus agreement instead pays for customers’ ability to change electricity use when the grid needs capacity.
Voltus seeks commitments through 2040
Voltus is securing commitments from customers to reduce demand or provide battery power through 2040, chief executive Dana Guernsey told Canary Media. She said the longer term could give customers contracted revenue to support investments in flexibility, including batteries, while giving Google capacity it can present to utilities and regulators over a longer period.
That term differs from PJM’s annual capacity auction, which secures resources for availability three years ahead. Guernsey said the capacity being procured for Google would be additional to what Voltus already bids into PJM’s capacity market.
Voltus already manages more than 9 gigawatts of demand-response and virtual-power-plant capacity across the United States. The Google programme is a commitment to assemble capacity within one grid region, rather than a measure of all the capacity Voltus manages nationally.
PJM faces 30 to 34 gigawatts of new demand
PJM forecasts that data centres and other large electricity users will add 30 to 34 gigawatts of demand by the early 2030s, Canary Media reported. The cost of securing enough power for peak demand in the region has risen more than eightfold in the past few years.
Rules for serving large users are also in flux. PJM suspended a data-centre power auction after a US regulator ordered a pause, AI Affairs previously reported. The grid operator has also struggled to bring new power plants online through its interconnection queue.
Voltus acquired battery startup Brightfield AI in June, and Guernsey identified batteries as a focus for the company’s longer-term customer commitments. Voltus has a target of 20 gigawatts of managed capacity by 2030 and raised $225 million earlier in October to support that ambition, Canary Media reported.
