GoogleWatts: Voltus, Tech Giant Expanding VPP to 1 GW in PJM Grid Interconnection
Distributed energy aggregator Voltus and digital hyperscaler Google are apparently so sure about their plan to use virtual power plant capacity to unchain grid constraints in the PJM Interconnection that they are super-sizing their original VPP deal by 10-fold.
The two companies are expanding their agreement to more than 1 GW of distributed energy capacity aggregated into VPPs in the nation’s largest grid system covering 13 eastern states and the District of Columbia. Virtual power plants use control and software systems to reallocate generation from dozens, hundreds or even thousands of distributed energy sites to aid grid capacity in times of peak demand or supply shortages.
“Voltus will aggregate new capacity from local businesses and homes into a Google-funded Virtual Power Plant,” reads the announcement from Voltus. “When the grid is under strain, Voltus signals those sites, which then can use batteries, smart thermostats, industrial process adjustments and other flexible assets to reduce energy use.”
The original Google-funded 100-MW VPP deal was called a “first of its kind.” It was designed to take 100 MW in aggregated distributed energy from local homes and businesses, with those participants receiving financial benefits.
Google is a key data center energy customer throughout the world. The PJM faces future grid resource adequacy issues with the rise in AI and cloud-based supercomputing load, including in northern Virginia with the highest density of data center capacity in the U.S.
“Distributed energy resources are powerful tools for managing a modern, reliable grid while keeping energy affordable,” said Ellen Zuckerman, head of energy market development for North & South America at Google, 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.”
Many data centers include on-site power capacity such as backup generators, battery storage, internal HVAC, smart meters and renewable energy resources. Those generation assets can include microgrid-controlled systems.
Utilities and data center developers are scrambling to secure additional power generation gigawatts to meet anticipated future AI and cloud-based demand growth. At the same time, VPP advocates say that technology can deploy DERs which not always being used efficiently, including distributed energy, smart thermostats, advanced metering and batteries.
“This significant expansion of our work with Google translates data center growth into direct economic benefits for businesses and homes,” said Dana Guernsey, CEO of Voltus. "Through this partnership we are proud to bring much needed clean capacity online, at gigawatt scale."
PJM is a competitive wholesale energy market in which the grid operator compensates DER participants for services such as demand response, frequency regulation and capacity provision.
A March 2026 report from researchers at The Brattle Group found that more efficient and broader utilization of existing U.S. power assets could save $100 billion in electricity cost over the next decade. Brattle’s “Untapped Grid” report was commissioned the Utilize Coalition, which includes Google, Tesla, Carrier, Renew Home, Gridlab and several other advanced energy technology customers.
About the Author
Rod Walton, Microgrid Knowledge Managing EditorRod Walton, Microgrid Knowledge Managing Editor
Managing Editor
For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
I’ve spent the last 18 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023.
I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 36-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future.
Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.