Why utilities should go big on VPPs

How DERs can deliver the flexibility that the grid needs

About

Facing acute load growth challenges, aging infrastructure, extreme weather, and a surge of electrification, utilities urgently need to unlock new solutions to deliver grid flexibility.

According to a recent report from RMI, virtual power plants could reduce peak demand in the U.S. by 60 GW by 2030 — and by 200 GW by 2050.

Still, across the industry, misconceptions about VPPs persist.

Cross-DER Edge DERMS provider EnergyHub, which helps utilities grow and manage grid-aware VPPs at scale, is proving that VPPs can meet load growth and be as reliable as traditional power plants.

In this Frontier Forum, we’ll explore common misconceptions about VPPs, including that the resource can only be used for bulk grid demand response. The conversation will help frame the wide range of use cases for VPPs, and the value they can provide to utilities and customers during this critical moment of change.

Kerri Carnes of Arizona Public Service will highlight the utility’s use of 90,000 DERs for managing the grid in extreme heat. Carnes and EnergyHub co-founder Seth Frader-Thompson will also look at other types of VPPs in operation around the country, and examine what the VPP landscape could look like in five to ten years.

We’ll answer questions like: how reliable are VPPs? What are the most successful deployments? And what will it take for more teams across the utility to trust and integrate them into their planning and operations?

Who should watch:

Utilities
Demand side management teams
DER providers
Auto OEMs
Investors
Policymakers / regulators

Catch up on VPPs:

The latest insights from EnergyHub, published on Latitude Media

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Stephen Lacey
Latitude Media

Stephen Lacey

Executive Editor + Co-Founder

Latitude Media

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Stephen Lacey is the co-founder and executive editor of Latitude Media and the co-host of Open Circuit. He helps shape editorial coverage, live events, and creative partnerships. He’s a veteran journalist, editor, and producer who’s been running news teams and making audio programming about the clean energy transition for nearly two decades.

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Seth Frader-Thompson
EnergyHub

Seth Frader-Thompson

President

EnergyHub

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Seth Frader-Thompson is the president and co-founder of EnergyHub, the industry’s leading provider of Edge Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS). Since launching the company in 2007, Seth has guided EnergyHub’s growth into the trusted DERMS platform of choice for more than 170 North American utilities, enabling the transition to a cleaner, more reliable grid. Under his leadership, EnergyHub has built the market’s most comprehensive software and services solution for distributed energy resource (DER) management. The company’s Edge DERMS platform empowers utilities to design, deploy, and scale end-to-end virtual power plant (VPP) programs—integrating a wide array of DERs including smart thermostats, EVs, batteries, and more. EnergyHub not only provides the underlying technology, but also supports utilities with full-service program design, implementation, and customer engagement capabilities. A trusted voice in the energy space, Seth is a frequent speaker on grid flexibility and the evolution of VPPs. He currently serves as a Board Member of the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) and RE+, where he helps shape the evolution of an affordable, reliable, and clean power system. Before founding EnergyHub, Seth held technical and managerial roles at Honeybee Robotics, where he led advanced robotics work for NASA, the U.S. military, and DARPA. His projects included developing bomb-disposal robots and a miniature laser vision system for search-and-rescue operations. Seth holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado, where he conducted research in Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) for ultracold atom optics.
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Kerri Carnes
Arizona Public Service Company

Kerri Carnes

Director, Customer to Grid Solutions

Arizona Public Service Company

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Kerri Carnes has worked at Arizona Public Service since 2003 in various roles, including
nuclear, transmission and distribution construction, supply chain, regulatory and
customer technology. Her current role is Director, Customer to Grid Solutions. Serving
as the bridge between what customers want and the grid needs, her team creates
innovative customer-focused solutions to better manage the grid while helping
customers achieve their own clean energy goals. Kerri and her team deliver important
offerings and solutions to APS’s Customers including DERs, Renewables, Demand Side
Management, Electric Vehicles, microgrids and other sustainability products.

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event details

Tuesday, October 22

1:00PM – 2:00PM ET

Latitude Media Frontier Forums are live, interactive conversations and presentations that showcase frontier trends in clean energy and climate technology. These virtual events feature timely, in-depth conversations between leading voices in the industry and Latitude Media’s Stephen Lacey, as well as interactive Q&A sessions with attendees.

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