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Google-Backed Renew Home Launches North America's Largest Residential Virtual Power Plant

With control over nearly 3 GW of electrical energy consumption already under its belt, Renew Home has plans to scale up to 50 GW by 2030.

May 13, 2024. By Abha Rustagi

Renew Home has emerged as North America's largest residential virtual power plant (VPP), a collaborative venture between Google's Nest Renew service and OhmConnect. This initiative aims to unite millions of households across the nation, not only stabilizing the grid but also reducing home energy costs.

With control over nearly 3 GW of electrical energy consumption already under its belt, Renew Home has plans to scale up to 50 GW by 2030. This expansion aligns closely with projections from the US Department of Energy (DOE), which anticipates that by tripling the scale of VPPs, a substantial portion of peak electricity demand could be met by 2030, potentially saving USD 10 billion in grid costs.

Backed by a USD 100 million investment from majority owner Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP), Renew Home is poised to revolutionize residential energy consumption patterns, empowering millions of homes nationwide to collectively reduce and optimize their energy usage.

Renew Home CEO Ben Brown expresses optimism about the transformative potential of this collaboration: "The marriage of Nest's innovative approach to managing energy use in the home with OhmConnect's customer-focused grid services platform will be transformational. With our industry-leading partners, Renew Home will be able to coordinate the home energy use of millions of customers to help catapult us into a 100% clean energy future."

Already, Renew Home has integrated with the Google Home APIs, serving as a platform provider for home energy management in millions of households. Furthermore, the company has established partnerships with various device and appliance manufacturers, including LG, Honeywell, SunPower, and Sense, facilitating seamless integration with over 100 utilities for demand response and VPP programs.

Alan Machuga, CTO of Rheem, underscores the significance of this development stating, "This is a pivotal moment for virtual power plants. We are excited to partner with Renew Home to help customers save money and energy – while supporting the grid. As a leading manufacturer of HVAC and Water Heating products, Rheem uniquely brings both potential for energy savings and energy storage, to which water heaters play a critical role."

According to the DOE, virtual power plants (VPPs) represent a paradigm shift in energy management, leveraging distributed energy resources to balance electricity demand and supply while providing utility-grade grid services. This includes a diverse range of assets such as rooftop solar, behind-the-meter batteries, electric vehicles, smart buildings, and flexible commercial and industrial loads.

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