Via MIT Technology Review, a look at how VPP technology can let millions of electric vehicles feed electricity back to the grid when necessary, helping China deal with extreme weathers and power shortages: The first time I heard the term “virtual power plants,” I was reporting on how extreme heat waves in 2022 had overwhelmed the […]
Read more »Via Heat Map, a report on reconductoring – an incredibly exciting solution that could solve one of our most urgent obstacles to getting more renewables on the grid: permitting new power lines: Ask any climate wonk what’s holding back clean energy in the U.S. and you’re likely to get the same answer — not enough power lines. But what […]
Read more »Via Latitude Media, a report on one utility’s VPP pilot: During some of the hottest months of 2023, 8,500 residential batteries in California discharged back to the grid for two hours every evening. This routine helped their utility to manage the challenge of after work peaks, combined with unusually high temperatures. Those homes were part […]
Read more »Via Matt Mandel, commentary on the potential to make energy programmable: We’ve previously written about the storage gap. The proliferation of solar has led to an abundance of energy when the sun is out and a dearth when it’s not. Batteries help address this gap by storing excess energy in times of plenty and discharging stored […]
Read more »Via MIT Technology Review, a look at how – by orchestrating EVs, batteries, and smart home devices – virtual power plants can help make the grid cleaner and more efficient: For more than a century, the prevalent image of power plants has been characterized by towering smokestacks, endless coal trains, and loud spinning turbines. But the […]
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