Residential virtual power plants

Virtual power plants (VPPs) help balance supply and demand on electric grids by coordinating the operations of large numbers of distributed energy resources, allowing them "to interact with the grid in much the same way as a large conventional power plant." In a move that will radically scale up this approach for residential properties, Google Nest Renew and OhmConnect have partnered to leverage Google Nest thermostats to automatically adjust home temperatures when the grid is under stress. OhmConnect will provide incentives for users to participate in energy-saving events, contributing to grid stability and sustainability.

This development illustrates a step-change in the scale and sophisticated of virtual power plant capabilities to stabilize grids in responsive ways, and create new business models for residential renewables and storage—and points towards a more distributed, resilient future grid that has fewer points of failure and a more modular path to expansion.