Distributed Power Plant Model Law and Model Tariff

“Virtual power plants” (VPPs) are an alternative to traditional grid upgrades, in which a utility aggregates various distributed energy resources (including rooftop solar, backup batteries, electric vehicles, and smart thermostats and appliances) into a dispatchable system that can respond to grid needs. If effectively deployed, virtual power plants can obviate the need for expensive grid upgrades, and make the energy transition much cheaper. To do that, however, state legislatures and utility regulators need to put the policies in place to let VPPs thrive. A group of solar advocates and companies (including Solar United Neighbors, clean energy boutique law firm Keyes & Fox and industry partners including leading solar-battery installers Sunrun and Sunnova) have drafted what those policies should be in recently released model utility rules and model legislation, included below.