Sungrow Power is collaborating with a distributed generation management platform to reduce the grid demand of residential and commercial solar plus energy storage systems, compared to hyperscale data centers.

This service, alongside Voltus (which appears similar to a virtual power plant project), will allocate "a portion" of capacity from Sunrun's installed solar and storage projects to grid operators PJM and MISO, according to a press release. Subsequently, they can utilize these distributed energy resources based on the power needs of data centers, while system owners receive compensation for their energy exports.

"To meet the growing energy demand, we need to maximize the utilization of every available electron nationwide," said Mary Powell, CEO of Sungrow Power, in a press release. "We are collaborating with Voltus to provide critical capacity through home energy storage batteries funded by hyperscale cloud service providers. This is just the beginning of what distributed energy assets can achieve.". ”

The energy demand on the U.S. power grid is increasing as the number of hyperscale data centers across the country continues to grow, driving up electricity costs. These data centers support generative AI technologies, such as large language models like OpenAI's ChatGPT. In 2023, grid-connected data centers accounted for less than 5% of the nation's energy consumption. However, according to a study released by the Congressional Research Service, the surge in hyperscale data centers could double or even triple this energy consumption by 2028.

Last year, Voltus launched the "Built-in Capacity" initiative to address the growing energy demands of data centers. The company aims for this service to provide a rapid solution to meet the energy needs of data centers. This urgency is intensifying. In June, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright urged grid operators to expedite the deployment of data centers, a move unanimously endorsed by FERC members.

"'Self-serve capacity' aims to transform distributed resources into grid-reliant capacity while maximizing value for end users," said Dana Guernsey, CEO of Voltus, in the press release. "This collaboration combines Sunrun's residential-scale resources with Voltus' flexible market integration platform, enabling distributed capacity to support grid reliability, affordability, and growth amid increasing electricity demand."