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Launch Virtual Power Plants With Real-World Impact

Unify diverse demand-side resources into firm, dispatchable supply using Uplight’s powerful virtual power plant technology and flexible turnkey services.

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VPP Solutions Trusted by Leading Energy Providers

Achieve Grid Reliability, Affordability, and Decarbonization Goals With VPPs

Rapid load growth. Distribution network constraints. Upward pressure on rates. Emissions targets. Today, energy providers are navigating an increasingly complex and interconnected set of challenges. Virtual power plants (VPPs) provide a powerful way to deliver firm, clean, cost-effective supply that can be called upon to deliver grid services throughout the year.

 

Uplight’s VPP solutions enable utilities to unify the orchestration of diverse distributed energy resources at scale, lowering energy procurement costs and providing rapidly dispatchable solutions that show up when they’re needed most.

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VPP Software

Uplight’s VPP platform provides AI-powered monitoring, forecasting, and dispatch tools to aggregate and orchestrate DERs across multiple asset classes, customer segments, and device types. As a result, grid operators can draw on flexible, dispatchable capacity at scale to support a variety of grid services.

Turnkey VPP Services

Uplight’s turnkey VPP services support end-to-end operations—from incentive design, customer and partner recruitment, and program enrollment to event dispatch, measurement & verification, and customer reward payouts. We deliver firm megawatts to power your ongoing supply needs.

Tripling the current scale of VPPs could address 10 to 20% of peak demand and avoid ~$10 B in annual grid costs by 2030.

Deploy Effective VPP Programs That:

  • Provide reliable capacity that can be dispatched year-round for multiple services, from peak shaving to frequency regulation.
  • Improve grid reliability and resilience through targeted flexibility dispatch down to the feeder level.
  • Streamline customer enrollments and drive ongoing event participation.
  • Funnel dollars back into local communities, helping offset customer energy bills.
  • Reduce downstream energy procurement and infrastructure costs.
  • Accelerate progress toward decarbonization goals by minimizing peaker plant use.

Why Partner With Uplight for Virtual Power Plants?

  • Seamless aggregation of diverse residential and C&I DERs into a single portfolio that supports multiple grid services.
  • Performance-based turnkey pricing locks in committed annual MWs you can plan around.
  • Predictive controls leverage AI to predict energy demand, optimize event dispatch, and maximize flexible capacity.
  • Measurement & verification (M&V) provides same-day feedback on event impact and optimization opportunities.
  • DER forecasting and controls to respond quickly to changing grid needs.
  • Interoperable platform connects with a wide range of devices and systems, providing oversight from the control room to the customer.

We’re a Guidehouse DERMS and VPP Leader

Uplight was named a leader in the Guidehouse 2022 VPP leaderboard and 2024 Grid-Edge DERMS leaderboard for our multi-asset, multi-market approach to DER management, our platform scale, and our global reach and experience.

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Explore Virtual Power Plant Resources

How VPPs Support Growing Capacity Needs with Customer DERs

Read the White Paper

Beyond Transmission: VPPs Bring Power to the People and the Grid

Watch the Webinar

Virtual Power Plant Flipbook: Puget Sound Energy’s VPP for DER Enablement

Download the Report

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  • At Uplight, we define a virtual power plant as an aggregation of multiple energy asset types and customer segments that’s managed as an integrated portfolio of resources and operated like a conventional power plant to support a wide range of grid services year-round. 

     

    VPPs are different than traditional demand response (DR) programs in the following ways: 

    • VPPs involve multiple asset types, while DR programs generally focus on a single resource.
    • VPPs bring together multiple customer segments (residential, SMB, and commercial / industrial), whereas utility DR programs are designed around a single customer segment.
    • VPPs provide multiple grid services such as peak shaving, network constraint management, and wholesale price hedging, while DR programs focus on peak load reduction. 
    • VPPs are dispatchable year-round, whereas DR programs typically run only during summer and winter.

  • VPPs are uniquely positioned to simultaneously support the 3 pillars of the energy transition: grid reliability, affordability, and decarbonization.

    • Reliability: VPPs can support resource adequacy, peak shaving, locational constraints, and other grid services to balance energy supply and demand needs.
    • Affordability: VPPs are non-wires alternatives (NWAs) that can provide additional capacity at a much cheaper cost and get more throughput from existing grid infrastructure. 
    • Decarbonization: VPPs can help utilities integrate new sources of renewable generation and stay on track with fossil fuel plant retirements while accommodating load growth.
    • Convene cross-functional contributors from your program, supply desk, network ops, and IT teams to explore how and where VPPs can support your utility’s operational goals.
    • Expand your existing DR programs with additional customer segments or asset types. 
    • Develop a personalized customer education, recruitment, and engagement playbook to ensure your VPP programs can incorporate a wide range of DERs. 
    • Evaluate your technology stack to validate that your ADMS and other grid operator systems can connect with grid-edge DER monitoring and dispatch tools.

Accelerate Your Virtual Power Plant Journey With Uplight

Learn how Uplight can support your end-to-end VPP program needs.

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