Wood Mackenzie Confirms CPower as the Virtual Power Plant Market's C&I Leader for Second Year in a Row with Most Flexible Capacity in the U.S.

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Aug 20, 2024, 08:00 ET

Report Recognizes CPower's Residential VPP Smart Thermostat Partnership with EnergyHub to Deliver Reliable Energy Across the Midwest

BALTIMORE, Aug. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- CPower Energy ("CPower"), the leading, national distributed energy resource (DER) monetization and virtual power plant (VPP) provider, today announced it has been recognized by Wood Mackenzie as the national leader in commercial & industrial flexible capacity under management for the second year in a row in the analyst firm's new Virtual Power Plant (VPP) Market report. With nearly 7 GW of capacity at more than 27,000 sites across the U.S., CPower forms VPPs to aggregate customer-owned DERs to help to reduce strain on the grid and increase grid resilience.

"As grid operators face mounting demand caused by increasing electrification, EV adoption and data center development, coupled with generation retirements and more frequent extreme weather events, we're proud to be recognized by Wood Mackenzie for our unmatched VPP scale and ability to help grid operators across the US meet their capacity, ancillary services and energy needs," said Michael Smith, CEO, CPower. "VPPs are a proven solution that can be brought to market faster than centralized generation and, as DERs continue to permeate across our economy, grid operators can tap into these existing and new resources to ensure reliable power for our communities to help ease some of the pressures that the grid is facing. Though the report notes that VPPs are past pilot stage in maturity, we have a lot of work to do to meet the DOE goal of tripling deployment by 2030, and we continue to work with existing and new customers to help them create value for supporting the grid."

The report also highlighted a partnership between CPower and EnergyHub, a top grid-edge flexibility and VPP provider, available to 1.2 million customers with in-home smart thermostats in the Ameren, IL area for contributing to grid-balancing VPPs. As the report notes, this collaboration is significant in that CPower and EnergyHub have the largest C&I and residential portfolios, respectively.

Commenting on CPower's inclusion for the second year in a row, Ben Hertz-Shargel, Global Head of Grid Edge at Wood Mackenzie added, "Our report found that residential customers have largely been stymied in accessing wholesale markets, so it has been particularly exciting to see CPower further expand in this market as well, beyond its existing C&I customer base. As one of the mature VPP providers named in the report, CPower's continued scale will help further propel VPP growth, as it works alongside stakeholders to develop new wholesale market and state-led demand response initiatives to make customer participation easier."

Wood Mackenzie's VPP Market report is based on a database of more than 1,400 VPP deployments in the U.S. and Canada, making it one of the most comprehensive reports to date on the current state of VPPs.

Energy users interested in earning grid services revenue and reducing energy costs by leveraging their flexibility can contact CPower to learn more: cpowerenergy.com/contact/.

About CPower Energy
CPower Energy is the leading, national distributed energy resource (DER) monetization and virtual power plant provider, creating the Customer-Powered Grid^™ that will enable a flexible, clean and dependable energy future. With nearly 7 GW of capacity at more than 27,000 sites across the U.S., we unlock the full value of DERs to strengthen the grid when and where reliable, dispatchable resources are needed most. CPower is based in Baltimore, Md., and is owned by LS Power, a development, investment and operating company focused on the power and energy infrastructure sector. For more information, visit: www.cpowerenergy.com.

SOURCE CPower Energy Management