Andover, Mass. – August 28, 2024 – Enel North America has been named one of the top three virtual power plant (VPP) aggregators for commercial and industrial (C&I) energy assets in Wood Mackenzie’s 2024 North America VPP market report. A VPP is a decentralized portfolio of distributed energy resources (DERs) and other assets that can be aggregated and operated as a larger-scale asset to support the power grid.

“We are turning the page on the era of large, polluting power plants. The grid of the future is decentralized and clean—and VPPs are playing an increasingly important role,” said Steve Doremus, head of market development at Enel North America. “We’re proud of our leadership in this sector, and we’re grateful to our customers who are leveraging their flexibility to support a reliable, affordable grid.”

Enel aggregates a variety of distributed resources—such as behind-the-meter batteries, demand response capacity and EV chargers—and enters them into select energy markets in response to external factors, such as requests from grid operators or price signals like time-of-use rates. These VPPs help grid operators maintain supply-demand balance and reduce the need for expensive, fossil-powered peaker plants. In return, participating energy users reduce their costs and even earn revenue.

With nearly 5 GW of flexible demand response capacity under management in North America, Enel works with a wide array of large energy users like manufacturing facilities, data centers and educational institutions. The company is expanding into new markets for demand response and VPPs in response to growing demand and a more favorable regulatory environment from policies like FERC’s Order 2222, which opened a path for wider DER adoption.

Wood Mackenzie’s 2024 North America VPP market report, released July 29, is available online.

About Enel North America

Enel North America, part of the Enel Group, is a clean energy leader in North America and is working to electrify the economy and build a net-zero carbon future by decarbonizing energy supply, electrifying transportation, creating resilient grids, and promoting a just, equitable transition. Enel North America serves over 4,500 businesses, utilities, and cities through renewable power generation, demand response, distributed energy resources, smart e-mobility solutions and services, energy trading, and more. Its installed portfolio includes over 10.3 GW of utility-scale renewable capacity, 1.3 GW of utility-scale energy storage and 106.9 MW of distributed energy storage capacity, 4.9 GW of demand response capacity, and 193,000 electric vehicle charging ports. Visit enelnorthamerica.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and YouTube to learn more.