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Environment

Virtual power plants could ease growing strain on US electric grid

Energy-saving networks that link smart devices, solar panels and batteries could regulate power demand and help avoid fossil fuel use at peak times

By James Dinneen

16 May 2024

Top view of suburban homes; Shutterstock ID 2421124935; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Subtle shifts in residential power usage could help lower demand at peak times

JazK2/Shutterstock

Energy-saving networks called “virtual power plants” are linking batteries, solar panels and smart devices in a growing number of homes across the US – but they face obstacles to reliably reducing electricity demand.

“You can create this massive resource that is really valuable to the grid,” says Ben Brown at Renew Home, a new company that plans to switch on what it says will be the largest such residential network in North America later this year. The firm is a merger between Google’s smart home device…

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