Virtual Power Plant Flipbook: 2026 Update

Virtual power plants (VPPs) are becoming an increasingly vital grid resource, offering utilities, regulators, policymakers, and large energy users a faster, more affordable way to meet rising demand, strengthen reliability, and support customer resilience.  

By coordinating distributed batteries, electric vehicles, smart thermostats, and other distributed energy resources, VPPs can deliver grid services at peak times, often faster and at lower cost than traditional infrastructure alone.  

The market is already scaling: from 2023 to 2025, tracked VPP capacity grew a total of 29%, from 28.9 to 38.6 gigawatts. As these programs mature, their real-world experience offers valuable lessons for utilities and policymakers seeking to lower system costs, create value for customers, and bring more flexible capacity onto the grid. 

RMI’s Virtual Power Plant Flipbook: 2026 Update features 10 leading VPP programs across the United States and Puerto Rico. Selected for their impact, innovation, and relevance, the examples demonstrate how VPPs are designed and implemented, from a smart thermostat program that reduces peak demand during Arizona’s hottest summer days to a residential battery program providing year-round customer back-up in Utah and Idaho. Building on the previous edition, this flipbook offers practical insights for utilities, regulators, policymakers, aggregators, and other stakeholders designing and refining VPP programs. 

Readers will learn how to:  

• Build a shared understanding of VPP definitions and types. The introductory section defines VPPs and distinguishes utility VPPs, market-participant VPPs, and bring-your-own-distributed-capacity models.  
• Compare VPP program designs. The features describe how specific VPPs are structured, including resource types, utility and third-party roles, customer participation, compensation, dispatch, and measurement.  
• Understand reliability, resilience, and affordability impacts of VPPs. Where data is available, the flipbook highlights participant compensation, system benefits, and the performance of VPPs in supporting local and regional grid needs.  
• Identify policy and regulatory pathways. The flipbook highlights how legislation, regulatory authorization, planning, tariffs, and program design choices can enable VPP deployment and scale.