San Francisco-based virtual power plant (VPP) operator Voltus has launched a new offering designed to expedite data center interconnection to the grid.

The product dubbed Bring Your Own Capacity (BYOC) 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.

Voltage claims that, through this model, data center developers will be able to bring their own capacity stack to the utilities, enabling approvals and build-outs years ahead of schedule.

“Grid flexibility is increasingly critical. On-site flexibility and colocated solutions for data centers are often discussed, but data center developers can also benefit from nearby flexibility through VPPs. Voltus is adding a much-needed tool to the toolkit for reliably, sustainably, and quickly enabling data center growth,” said Dana Guernsey, CEO of Voltus.

The product, the company said, will allow developers to deploy these flexible capacity solutions in parallel with their own projects, reducing time-to-power.

Voltus is a distributed energy 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.

Several companies have emerged in recent years offering data centers a means to achieve an expedited route to power.

Recent examples include GridCARE, which emerged from stealth earlier this year following an oversubscribed $13.5 million funding round. The company claims that its solution can leverage advanced generative AI-based analysis to detect pockets with geographic and temporal capacity on the existing grid. By doing so, the company claims, it can reduce the time-to-power of data centers to 6-12 months.

In addition, earlier this year, the US’s largest grid operator, PJM Interconnection, partnered with Google-backed Tapestry to deploy its AI technology, facilitating faster grid connection timelines for power projects and large load users, such as data centers.