Google has signed an energy supply agreement with virtual power plant (VPP) operator Voltus for up to 100MW of capacity across the PJM Interconnection grid in the US.

The companies signed what they called a Bring Your Own Capacity (BYOC) agreement, which will last for three years.

The agreement will see Voltus aggregate up to 100MW of distributed energy resources (DER) generated by batteries, smart thermostats, and other flexible assets from local businesses and homes into a Google-funded VPP. Voltus will subsequently pay customers who participate in the VPP.

The system is designed to act as a decentralized power plant, automatically orchestrating DERs during periods of high demand to reduce grid stress and unlock additional capacity on the electricity grid.

The companies claim that the deal will create a scalable blueprint for meeting data center capacity needs more affordably and reliably through smarter use of the grid. If the program proves successful, the companies will seek to repeat it more broadly across the country.

“We are proud to work with Google to bring clean capacity online while helping our customers save money,” said Dana Guernsey, CEO of Voltus. “This initial phase of our Google partnership is pioneering a model that large load customers can follow, and we expect it to accelerate the role of distributed energy resources as a capacity solution at scale.”

“Google is committed to ensuring that our energy growth translates into a more reliable, affordable electricity future for local communities,” added Michael Terrell, global head of Advanced Energy at Google. “We are excited to add this new solution to a growing toolkit that can accelerate a robust, flexible energy system, and to partner with Voltus to scale a first-of-its-kind model for unlocking capacity to meet new data center growth.”

Voltus is a distributed energy and VPP platform that operates across the US. It connects distributed energy resources (DERs) to all nine wholesale markets in North America, with more than 7.5GW of DERs in operation. The company launched its BYOC solution in October of last year. The program is designed to accelerate data center development by leveraging existing flexibility on the grid. It achieves this by offering developers an alternative pathway to interconnection, using its VPP platform to deliver market-accredited capacity.

In February, the company inked a deal with Octopus Energy US to deliver BYOC solutions to utilities, grid operators, and data center firms across the country.