VPPs: Reshaping Grid Planning and Market Integration

This podcast explains how Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) are revolutionizing transmission planning by offering a solution to the current interconnection logjam in the U.S. power grid, which delays large-scale energy projects. VPPs, comprised of aggregated, small-scale distributed resources, can be deployed rapidly as a Non-Wires Alternative (NWA) to traditional infrastructure, providing targeted relief for grid congestion and supporting overall resource adequacy. The podcast highlights the importance of FERC Order No. 2222 in enabling VPP participation in wholesale markets, while also detailing the significant regulatory challenges like jurisdictional coordination and preventing double-counting. Finally, it presents the ERCOT ADER Pilot as a case study, illustrating how real-world trials are helping to address technical and market integration issues, fundamentally shifting transmission planning towards incorporating the probabilistic behavior of these distributed resources.