“Dear me,” Wes Consinn mumbled as he shuffled down the sidewalk, “how are we ever going to find and pay for enough electricity? New energy-thirsty artificial intelligence (AI) centers are moving in, and we’re already paying more for electricity than our neighboring states.
“One bugaboo is supplying those relatively rare peak-energy-use times like during sweltering summer afternoons. That’s when expensive ‘peaker’ plants are fired up. Now the utilities want to build a brand-new gas-fired ‘peaker’ for the hefty sum of $1.2 billion! There’s gotta be a better way.”
Lost in thought, Wes happened to glance up at the placard above a shop door - No Hocus No Pocus - Energy Solutions. He stepped inside. “Hocus pocus, huh! What do you guys do, conjure up cheap energy?” he chided the proprietor.
“Not at all,” Ray Sourceful smiled, “although the results do seem almost magical. We just make better use of energy that’s already been generated. Want to avoid expensive, polluting peaker plants? Let me clue you in on a couple key concepts - Distributed Energy Resources (DER)s and Virtual Power Plants (VPP)s.
“DERs generate and store energy from a variety of sources including solar and battery storage systems at community solar farms, businesses and homes, or from electric vehicles (EV)s and even by using smart thermostats. Energy from these sources can be used during peak energy use periods through virtual power plants.
“The almost-magical quality of VPPs is that they provide energy without having to build a physical power plant. Partners in a VPP agree and get paid for letting the VPP draw electricity when needed during peak energy use periods. I.E. A smart thermostat could temporarily kick the AC up a couple degrees or an EV sitting idle in the garage could discharge part of its battery into the grid for a few hours. VPPs can be created and deployed in way less time than it takes to construct a generation plant and at a fraction of the cost,“ Ray concluded.
Wes smiled as he left the shop. “Golly, I’ve got work to do! It’s a little embarrassing, but I’m way behind my neighboring states concerning policies that advance the use of DERs and VPPs. We should be lowering energy costs and reducing pollution because, after all, this is our only home. It’s where we’re all forever… Earthbound.”
“One bugaboo is supplying those relatively rare peak-energy-use times like during sweltering summer afternoons. That’s when expensive ‘peaker’ plants are fired up. Now the utilities want to build a brand-new gas-fired ‘peaker’ for the hefty sum of $1.2 billion! There’s gotta be a better way.”
Lost in thought, Wes happened to glance up at the placard above a shop door - No Hocus No Pocus - Energy Solutions. He stepped inside. “Hocus pocus, huh! What do you guys do, conjure up cheap energy?” he chided the proprietor.
“Not at all,” Ray Sourceful smiled, “although the results do seem almost magical. We just make better use of energy that’s already been generated. Want to avoid expensive, polluting peaker plants? Let me clue you in on a couple key concepts - Distributed Energy Resources (DER)s and Virtual Power Plants (VPP)s.
“DERs generate and store energy from a variety of sources including solar and battery storage systems at community solar farms, businesses and homes, or from electric vehicles (EV)s and even by using smart thermostats. Energy from these sources can be used during peak energy use periods through virtual power plants.
“The almost-magical quality of VPPs is that they provide energy without having to build a physical power plant. Partners in a VPP agree and get paid for letting the VPP draw electricity when needed during peak energy use periods. I.E. A smart thermostat could temporarily kick the AC up a couple degrees or an EV sitting idle in the garage could discharge part of its battery into the grid for a few hours. VPPs can be created and deployed in way less time than it takes to construct a generation plant and at a fraction of the cost,“ Ray concluded.
Wes smiled as he left the shop. “Golly, I’ve got work to do! It’s a little embarrassing, but I’m way behind my neighboring states concerning policies that advance the use of DERs and VPPs. We should be lowering energy costs and reducing pollution because, after all, this is our only home. It’s where we’re all forever… Earthbound.”
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