US data centre power goes distributed: Sunrun signs VPP deal with Google supplier Voltus

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Residential solar and energy storage provider Sunrun has signed an agreement with distributed energy resource platform Voltus to support its Bring Your Own Capacity (BYOC) programmes for AI hyperscalers.

Under the agreement, Sunrun will provide energy capacity from a portion of its thousands of residential solar-plus-storage systems to help deliver reliable, flexible power to support the growing electricity demand. This will cover the PJM (spanning 13 US states and Washington, DC) and MISO (spanning 15 states and Canada’s Manitoba province) grid regions.

Voltus unveiled its BYOC programme last year, which enables hyperscalers to bring firm, flexible capacity to facilitate data centre interconnection and support the grid. Recently the company signed a three-year BYOC agreement with tech giant Google in PJM. Under that deal, Voltus would provide 100MW of distributed energy resources from local businesses and homes into a Google-funded virtual power plant (VPP).

As part of the BYOC programme, Voltus’ flexible distributed resources are used to reduce energy demand when the grid needs it, while businesses and homes that participate in the programme get paid for it.

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Sunrun’s involvement in powering hyperscalers through VPPs is not the company’s first. Recently, the company partnered with energy management platform Renew Home and Tesla to deliver over 16GW of flexible energy capacity to US hyperscalers and utilities in PJM. That partnership would create the country’s largest VPP.

The residential solar and energy storage provider had already highlighted the benefits of distributed VPPs for powering data centres in 2024. Its rapid deployment was touted as a key advantage over other technologies that would take longer to build, while also opening new markets for residential installers in the US.

To read the full version of this story, visit PV Tech, where it first appeared.

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