Google signed a deal with Voltus, a distributed energy resource platform, to build a 1 gigawatt virtual power plant to provide extra capacity for the surging electricity needs of data centers.
As Google and other companies construct more data centers to keep up with the AI revolution, more strain has been put on the power grid. One way to deal with this issue is to pay consumers to cut back on electricity usage during peak hours, savings that, when coordinated, save a power plant’s worth of electricity. Google expanded this effort on Thursday, signing a deal with Voltus to extend its previous flexible power capacity deal for PJM Interconnection, the country’s largest regional transmission organization.
In other words, Voltus serves as the middleman, signaling participating households to cut back on power use at certain times, then gives them the payments from Google. The two signed an initial deal to deliver 100 megawatts of flexible power capacity in June, and the new deal will expand this to 1 gigawatt in the PJM grid region.
Through the deal, Voltus aggregates spare capacity from local businesses and homes into a Virtual Power Plant funded by Google. When the grid comes under strain, such as during a heatwave, Voltus signals the VPP to cut down its energy use. The businesses and households part of the VPP receive financial benefits, including bill savings and direct payments.
The deal shows how big tech companies are beginning to turn to regular households to meet the energy needs driven by the surging demand for AI data centers. The effort is entirely voluntary, and much of the savings come from smart thermostats, smart batteries, and other technology that doesn’t require the wholesale shutdown of electronics. Households join largely through positive incentives.
Much remains uncertain, however, such as how often households will be asked to cut back on their electronics use or by how much. The effort is also likely to generate backlash from critics, who will read the effort as voluntary now but possibly laying the groundwork for mandatory rolling blackouts in the future. States with strained energy grids, such as California, are no strangers to blackouts.
Canada has already adopted virtual power plants. Ontario’s Peak Perks pays households $75 to enroll, adjusting participants’ thermostats by 2 degrees Celsius during periods of strain.
Supporters will point out that the initiative is environmentally friendly, cutting back on consumption altogether.
“This significant expansion of our work with Google translates data center growth into direct economic benefits for businesses and homes,” Voltus CEO Dana Guernsey said. “Through this partnership we are proud to bring much needed clean capacity online, at gigawatt scale.”
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“Distributed energy resources are powerful tools for managing a modern, reliable grid while keeping energy affordable,” Ellen Zuckerman, head of energy market development for North & South America at Google, said in a statement. “Expanding our initial commitment tenfold demonstrates our core effort to actively bring our own capacity to the grids that serve us. Procuring this capacity through a gigawatt-scale virtual power plant ensures Google’s operations in PJM support regional reliability and deliver direct economic benefits to local communities.”
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
