Frontier Forum: Why utilities should go big on VPPs

Catalyst · 2 Dec 2024 · 27m

What this episode covers

Kerri Carnes, Director of Customer-to-Grid Solutions at Arizona Public Service (APS), and Seth Frader-Thompson, Co-founder and President of EnergyHub, discuss the evolution of APS’s 190-megawatt Virtual Power Plant (VPP). They explain how the utility moved from skepticism to treating distributed energy resources (DERs) like smart thermostats, batteries, and EVs as reliable, dispatchable assets to manage a 40% projected peak demand growth. The conversation highlights the importance of building trust through scale, managing diverse resource mixes, and leveraging AI for intelligent dispatch to ensure both grid reliability and customer satisfaction.

Mentioned

Companies
Arizona Public Service, EnergyHub, Duke, National Grid
Products
EnergyHub Edge DERs Platform, smart thermostats, batteries, EV chargers, EVs, heat pumps, commercial and industrial demand response, behavioral demand response, residential battery storage, water heaters, pool pumps

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