“DERMs and VPP pioneer AutoGrid brings 10+ years of successful VPP delivery with 50+ customers in 17 countries.”
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Mar 30, 2023 – Industry-leading Virtual Power Plant (VPP) and Distributed Energy Resource Management Solution (DERMS) provider AutoGrid announced today that it has joined Rocky Mountain Institute’s (RMI) Virtual Power Plant Partnership (VP3) initiative to accelerate the scaling of virtual power plants in order to enable a cleaner, more reliable, and cost-effective grid.
With more than 7GW of flexible capacity and an annual average of 1,800 dispatch events, AutoGrid joins other industry champions including Ford, General Motors, and Google Nest to advance this critical technology in accelerating the energy transition.
“VP3’s objectives are closely aligned with AutoGrid’s mission to leverage AI and technological innovation to combat the climate crisis,” said AutoGrid CEO Ruben Llanes. “As a company that has been at the forefront of VPP development, we are excited to collaborate with RMI and other industry leaders to establish a common set of standards and performance metrics for VPPs that will support customers around the world in adopting VPPs and in reaching their decarbonization goals.”
RMI is a devoted advocate for decarbonizing buildings, electricity, heavy industry, and mobility both domestically and around the world through market-driven and business-led solutions. Launched in January, the VP3 initiative works to overcome barriers to VPP market growth by catalyzing the industry and transforming policy to support scaling VPPs in ways that help advance affordable, reliable electric sector decarbonization. Virtual power plants are portfolios comprised of hundreds or thousands of households and businesses that offer the latent potential of their electric vehicles (EVs), smart thermostats, appliances, batteries, solar arrays, and utility-scale energy assets to support the grid.
An early and outspoken voice for enabling utilities to adopt VPPs to eliminate inefficient, expensive, heavy-polluting peaker power plants, AutoGrid has a track record of standing up for environmental justice. Acquired by Schneider Electric in 2022, AutoGrid also brings Schneider’s global prosumer to grid strategy to VP3.
“VPPs can unlock the full potential of DERs to bring clean energy onto the grid and provide key reliability services in a world of increasingly extreme climate events,” said Mark Dyson, Managing Director of RMI’s Carbon-Free Electricity Program. “VP3 looks forward to working together with AutoGrid and other industry leaders to scale the market for VPPs.”
About AutoGrid
AutoGrid is committed to accelerating access to sustainable energy in order to combat the climate crisis. AutoGrid’s AI-driven software makes electric vehicles, batteries, roof-top solar, utility-scale wind and other distributed energy resources (DERs) smarter. By enabling prediction, optimization, and real-time control of millions of energy assets at an unprecedented scale, AutoGrid is making the vision of a decentralized, decarbonized, and democratized new energy world a reality. With over a decade of pioneering experience across the globe, AutoGrid offers fleet owners, energy-as-a-service companies, renewable project developers, utilities, and electricity retailers the ability to build, own, operate, and participate in intelligent and scalable Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) enabling them to disrupt the dependency on fossil-fuel based energy. The AutoGrid Flex™ platform is managing over 6,000 MW of VPPs in 17 countries.
Media Contact:
John Perry
VP of Marketing & Communications, AutoGrid
media@auto-grid.com
About RMI:
RMI, founded as Rocky Mountain Institute, is an independent nonprofit founded in 1982 that transforms global energy systems through market-driven solutions to align with a 1.5°C future and secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all. We work in the world’s most critical geographies and engage businesses, policymakers, communities, and NGOs to identify and scale energy system interventions that will cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 50 percent by 2030. RMI has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; Oakland, California; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing. More information on RMI can be found at www.rmi.org or follow us on Twitter @RockyMtnInst.
Media Contact:
Adam Beitman
Strategic Communications Manager, Carbon-Free Electricity, RMI
abeitman@rmi.org
