Laura Lightbody

Rule Changes

Leading Pew's distributed-energy policy program

For most of the twentieth century the U.S. power grid moved electricity in one direction: from large central plants to homes and businesses. A Pew Charitable Trusts report released April 28 documents how twelve states and Puerto Rico have now written rules letting aggregated rooftops, batteries, water heaters, and thermostats be dispatched together as a single power plant. The category is called a virtual power plant, or VPP, and for the first time, it's moving from utility pilots into mainstream state regulation.

Updated May 31