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ARTICLE · 15 JULY 2026

Virtual Power Plants: The Distributed Energy Revolution Has Arrived

Foley Hoag LLP
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The electric grid faces unprecedented stress as electricity demand surges while infrastructure buildout lags years behind. Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) have emerged as a practical solution, aggregating distributed energy resources like home batteries, smart thermostats, and EV chargers to function collectively as dispatchable power plants. With regulatory momentum accelerating across multiple states and real-world deployments demonstrating reliability during grid emergencies, VPPs are reshaping how utilities

United StatesEnergy and Natural Resources
Peter Ross
Peter Ross
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How aggregated distributed energy resources are reshaping the grid — and what it means for energy developers, utilities, and in-house legal teams

The electric grid is under extraordinary stress. Electricity demand is surging – driven in large part by the explosive growth of data centers, widespread electrification, and the proliferation of AI workloads – while the infrastructure needed to meet that demand is mired in historic delays. Gas turbines are backlogged through at least 2028. Over two terawatts of generation capacity languish in interconnection queues, where average timelines now exceed five years. Transformer wait times have doubled. In this environment, traditional approaches to grid expansion are simply not keeping pace.

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