RMI launches US-based VPP peak body with SwitchDin as founding member
SwitchDin joins GM, Google Nest and others as founding members of the Rocky Mountain Institute’s (RMI’s) newly established Virtual Power Plant Partnership (VP3), in an initiative to help catalyse potential for rapid growth of virtual power plants in the United States.
RMI is a leading nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the global energy transformation, and initial funding of the VP3 effort was made possible by General Motors and Google Nest in recognition of the critical work needed to tackle the challenges ahead. Other VP3 founding members include Ford, SunPower and SunRun.
SwitchDin brings extensive experience delivering VPPs as a market leader in Australia, where new energy solutions like VPPs are urgently needed and being rolled out across the nation to modernise energy systems.
VP3 is an initiative based at RMI that works to mobilise industry and transform policy to support scaling VPPs in ways that help advance affordable, reliable electric sector decarbonisation by overcoming barriers to VPP market growth.
Virtual power plants are fleets of hundreds or thousands of households and businesses that offer the latent potential of their electric vehicles (EVs), smart thermostats, appliances, batteries, solar arrays, and additional energy assets to support the grid.
With the guidance and support of its members, VP3 is working toward a future where businesses, households, and communities are empowered through VPPs which can help to support cost-effective energy, emissions reductions, and a more resilient electricity grid.
To achieve this, VP3 will work to:
Catalogue, research, and communicate VPP benefits
Develop industry-wide best practices, standards, and roadmaps
Inform and shape policy development
With the announcement, RMI and VP3 have released an insights brief outlining how aggregating distributed energy resources can benefit communities, society and the grid.
“Virtual power plants are poised for explosive growth, and RMI is committed to being at the forefront of their success by launching VP3,” said RMI CEO Jon Creyts. “Our analysis shows that VPPs can reduce peak power demand and improve grid resilience in a world of increasingly extreme climate events. A growing VPP market also means revenue opportunities for hardware, software, and energy-service companies in the buildings and automotive industries. For large energy users, VPPs can significantly reduce energy spend while providing new revenue streams.”
About SwitchDin and VP3
SwitchDin’s technology sets the global benchmark for distributed energy resource (DER) management, and is commercially deployed across Australia in response to the country’s high penetration of rooftop solar, while unlocking new opportunities for all types of DER. In Australia, SwitchDin’s clients include Simply Energy, Origin Energy, Synergy, Jacana, SA Power Networks, Ausgrid, and Energy Queensland. SwitchDin is a member of the RMI-affiliated Third Derivative accelerator program, and is looking for partnerships to bring its proven technology to American shores.
“The acceleration of clean energy and the electrification of transport and heating will lead to a more distributed electricity system capable of greater consumer participation and new prosumer focused energy service models. SwitchDin’s Stormcloud platform provides the operational tools to ensure distribution networks, market participants and EV fleet managers can provide new clean and resilient consumer services,” said SwitchDin founder and CEO Dr Andrew Mears.
"SwitchDin is thrilled to be a founding partner in the Virtual Power Plant Partnership. We are looking forward to sharing lessons from Australia and delivering our Stormcloud to US customers to help in this global challenge.”
More information
More information about VP3 at vp3.io.
A PDF of the official press release is available here.