It’s DERVOS week, ya’ll. Here’s another sneak peek into what you’ll catch on the Lightning stage… or what you’ll be missing if you don’t get your ticket today.
First, we’ll hear from Josh Keeling, CCO of Utility API.
The grid doesn’t need a bigger padlock; it just needs a decent doorman.
Utilities are finally ready for the VPP party. The problem is, they’re throwing it at their customers’ house and the neighborhood has gotten a little rougher these days. Back in the day, the only solution was putting a bigger lock on the door, or only inviting your absolute closest friends. Either way, nobody shows (sound familiar, PJM?). Thankfully, utilities are learning a lesson that is obvious to every New Yorker: the value of a good doorman. In this presentation, Josh will walk through the simple steps utilities across the country are taking to make it both easier and safer for DERs to join the party. He’ll explain what separates a VPP house party from a VPP house fire, including who to let in, when to make things more exclusive, how to settle a dispute, and when to allow a +1.
We’ll also hear from DER Task Force OG Arushi Sharma Frank of Luminary Strategies with AJ Hall of AES.
The Need for Speed: Taking the Flexible Fast Lane to Data Center Power
Data centers want power now, and the grid has room for them most hours of the year. So why are developers building their own off-grid gas plants? Waiting in line for firm service can take years, and flexible interconnection on its own leaves them exposed to curtailment they can’t finance. The fast lane is a bridge. Connect on the headroom the grid already has. Flex when the system is stressed. Firm the gap with privately funded grid-connected batteries or generation. Then grow into full service as the wires get built. Arushi Sharma Frank has been writing these rules in ERCOT. Proposed NPRR1348 builds on the Provisional Controllable Load Resources (PCLR) framework and lets paired batteries and generators shield flexible loads from curtailment while staying available to the grid for emergencies. AJ Hall and the Grid 2 Task Force extend this concept beyond a single market, with an architecture that optimizes how grid headroom is allocated as flexible loads request access in defined service tiers. Like the internet, the architecture is an open standard with shared protocols, not another queue, to guarantee reliability and make non-firm service bankable. Grid utilization is the baseline, and controllable dispatch makes it work.
