Google expands its Voltus deal to a 1 GW "virtual power plant" on the PJM grid: customers get paid to cut demand at peak hours
Prepared by Sintelligent with the help of SI. Published in SI: . Updated: .
Google will pay businesses and homes to cut their load so its data centers have enough electricity — the results have not yet been measured.
Google announced that, together with energy company Voltus, it is expanding an earlier 100 MW agreement into a 1 GW virtual power plant on the PJM grid, which serves 67 million people in 13 states and the District of Columbia. Voltus aggregates flexible capacity from local businesses and households — smart thermostats, batteries, industrial equipment — that temporarily reduce consumption at peak demand to support grid reliability. According to the blog text, participants receive bill savings and cash payments. Google calls it one of the largest known distributed-capacity portfolios built by a hyperscaler. Computerworld links the initiative to rising electricity demand from data centers, which, the outlet writes, is pushing up prices and straining local infrastructure; in its words, Google "will pay people to use less electricity."
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