Virtual power plant access extends through Solis, Derapi partnership

The platform will provide Solis battery storage customers access to virtual power plant (VPP) programs.

Virtual power plant (VPP) programs are expanding to battery storage owners in the U.S. and Canada through a partnership between inverter-manufacturer Solis and Derapi, an API platform for distributed energy resources (DERs).

Open to both residents and businesses, the platform will provide market- and utility-based programs via VPP and demand response providers.

Solis, a Chinese inverter manufacturer, recently introduced two new string inverters to the U.S. and Canadian markets.

“Energy storage inverters are an important part of the distributed energy ecosystem,” said Thomas Lee, a founder and president of Derapi. “These programs can immediately add Solis to their supported vendor lists with no additional integration work,” he said.

Derapi connects distributed energy devices with the platforms that manage, analyze and monetize them.

A VPP is a virtual aggregation of small-scale, DERs. Along with energy storage, VPPs include including vehicle chargers and demand-responsive devices such as water heaters, thermostats and appliances. VPP technology has shown promise in replacing natural-gas peaker plants on grids, offering additional capacity during times of peak electricity demand, all while saving costs for ratepayers.

The previous administration’s head of Department of Energy Loans Programs Office, Jigar Shah, was a strong supporter of VPP buildout. pv magazine USA interviewed Shah on the benefits of VPPs.