Virtual Power Plants Can Help Data Centers Connect to the Grid More Easily
Pew letter urges federal officials to ensure that new rule broadens tool set to grow capacity
On Nov. 21, 2025, The Pew Charitable Trusts sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) urging it to consider virtual power plants (VPPs) alongside other solutions such as large-scale generation and transmission system upgrades as it prepares a rule to expedite connections of large loads to the electric grid. VPPs are reliable, cost-effective aggregations of distributed energy resources—such as smart heating and cooling systems, rooftop solar, and batteries—that provide power at the same scale as traditional power plants and can help offset energy demand.
In October, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright directed FERC to create a rule by April 30, 2026, that will ensure “efficient, timely, and non-discriminatory” access to large load users, especially data centers to support the growth of artificial intelligence.
FERC order 2222, issued in 2020, created a pathway for VPPs to participate in wholesale power markets. Pew’s letter encouraged FERC to provide a mechanism for VPPs to qualify for the new rule so that they can be fully leveraged to ease strain on the transmission grid and meet rapidly growing energy demand.
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