Voltus and Google Scale Milestone 1-Gigawatt Local Power Deal Across PJM Region

Compensating Ratepayers for Existing Grid Capacity Will Meet Electricity Demand, Improve Reliability, and Lower Costs for 67M People

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Common Charge member Voltus today announced one of the largest local power programs in history. The deal is an expanded agreement to aggregate flexible capacity from local businesses and homes — such as smart thermostats, batteries, and industrial assets — into 1-gigawatt of power in the PJM region. The Google-funded plan builds on a 100-megawatt agreement from earlier this year, now serving 67 million people across 13 states and Washington, D.C.

“Today’s milestone announcement confirms that local power is not a future concept,” said Mary Rafferty, executive director of Common Charge. “Distributed resources are lowering costs and providing reliable power for residents right now. By scaling to a full gigawatt of community-generated capacity across 13 states and D.C., Voltus and Google are strengthening the local grid and putting money back into the pockets of everyday consumers.

“Hyperscalers can, and should, be part of the solution to today’s energy challenges. Today’s announcement confirms that large technology companies like Google can rely on local power to meet energy demand fast, going from pilot to major program in just a matter of months. Instead of spending several years building expensive new power plants and offloading the cost on local ratepayers, Google is compensating households and businesses for putting their existing batteries, smart thermostats, and flexible energy tools to work now. By utilizing the grid infrastructure we already have, this gigawatt-scale partnership shows how major technology companies can meet soaring demand fast while keeping energy affordable and reliable for the 67 million residents across the PJM region.”