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Google is leaning in on distributed energy resources to power its data center buildout in PJM, via a 100 megawatt virtual power plant deal with Voltus, the companies announced today.
Voltus announced its “bring your own capacity” program for data centers in September, in partnership with data center infrastructure developer Cloverleaf Infrastructure. BYOC, as Voltus calls the framework, allows data centers to finance the flexibility potential of the communities around them, bringing those megawatts to utilities as part of their capacity stack, rather than flexing their own load.
Hyperscalers in the program commit to financing a VPP program in the region where they need power for a data center, and Voltus delivers that contracted capacity directly to the load-serving entity. Google is the first named BYOC customer, and according to the companies, this is the first instance of a hyperscaler directly funding a VPP.
The BYOC framework, Voltus CEO Dana Guernsey explained to Latitude Media in September, is designed to help data centers bridge the capacity gap between now and the early 2030s. Voltus VPPs, she added, are set to come online in 2027.
