How to sign up for a virtual power plant—and decide whether you should
How to sign up for a virtual power plant—and decide whether you should
如何注册虚拟电厂——以及判断你是否应该这样做
MIT Technology Review’s How To series helps you get things done. Your thermostat may not look like a power plant. Neither does your electric vehicle, home battery, or HVAC system. But utility and energy companies increasingly want to treat them like one. 《麻省理工科技评论》的“如何做”（How To）系列旨在帮助你解决实际问题。你的恒温器看起来可能不像一座发电厂，你的电动汽车、家用电池或暖通空调系统也一样。但公用事业公司和能源公司正日益希望将它们视为发电厂来管理。
A virtual power plant, or VPP, is a collection of household devices (such as smart thermostats, electric-vehicle chargers, home batteries, and solar panels) that a utility can control. Usually that means commanding the devices to draw less electricity during peak hours. For example, the utility might adjust your thermostat or delay or slow EV charging when electricity demand is high. 虚拟电厂（VPP）是一系列可以由公用事业公司控制的家用设备（如智能恒温器、电动汽车充电器、家用电池和太阳能电池板）的集合。通常这意味着在用电高峰时段指令这些设备减少用电。例如，当电力需求较高时，公用事业公司可能会调节你的恒温器，或者延迟、减慢电动汽车的充电速度。
In exchange, the utility offers VPP participants a discount on their energy bills and, in some cases, a signing bonus. Seth Frader-Thompson, CEO and cofounder of EnergyHub, a software company that helps utility companies run VPP programs, says a smart thermostat program may offer an initial bonus of roughly $50 to $150, plus about $25 to $50 per year, while home battery and EV devices could yield hundreds or thousands of dollars in annual savings. 作为交换，公用事业公司会为 VPP 参与者提供电费折扣，在某些情况下还会提供签约奖金。EnergyHub 是一家帮助公用事业公司运营 VPP 项目的软件公司，其首席执行官兼联合创始人 Seth Frader-Thompson 表示，智能恒温器项目可能会提供约 50 到 150 美元的初始奖金，外加每年约 25 到 50 美元的补贴，而家用电池和电动汽车设备每年则可能带来数百甚至数千美元的节省。
The amount of power the utility might throttle in any one home is small. But it adds up, Frader-Thompson says. “When you put it together at the scale of hundreds of thousands, or millions, it has a pretty profound impact,” he says, equivalent to “firing up a power plant.” 公用事业公司在单个家庭中限制的电量很小，但 Frader-Thompson 说，积少成多。“当你把成千上万甚至数百万个家庭的电量汇集在一起时，它会产生非常深远的影响，”他说，这相当于“启动了一座发电厂”。
As of 2023, there were already more than 500 VPP programs operating in the US alone, and the number has only grown since, especially with big players like Google starting to invest in this technology to help power their data centers. An estimated 4 million households with smart thermostats were enrolled in a VPP program as of last year. 截至 2023 年，仅在美国就有超过 500 个 VPP 项目在运行，此后这一数字一直在增长，尤其是随着谷歌等大公司开始投资这项技术以支持其数据中心供电。据估计，截至去年，已有 400 万户拥有智能恒温器的家庭加入了 VPP 项目。
But the approach is still new, and some programs may still have some kinks to work out, says Severin Borenstein, faculty director of UC Berkeley’s Energy Institute at Haas and member of the board of governors of the California Independent System Operator, which manages most of the state’s electric grid. If a program is not implemented well, he says, a utility may incorrectly predict when VPP participants plan to use more electricity and pay them for not using energy they weren’t planning to use anyway, potentially increasing energy bills for nonparticipants. 但这种方法仍然很新，一些项目可能仍有一些问题需要解决，加州大学伯克利分校哈斯商学院能源研究所教务主任、加州独立系统运营商（管理该州大部分电网）理事会成员 Severin Borenstein 表示。他说，如果项目实施得不好，公用事业公司可能会错误地预测 VPP 参与者计划何时使用更多电力，并为他们本就不打算使用的能源支付费用，这可能会增加非参与者的电费负担。
Still, Borenstein says, “if we do it well, I think it can really be a benefit,” one that could help utilities avoid an expensive grid upgrade or emergency measures to conserve power. Most consumer VPPs today are less dramatic than the name suggests and don’t actively send energy from your EV or home battery to the grid. But battery-to-grid programs are on the rise—and potentially offer even larger savings for consumers in the future. 不过，Borenstein 认为：“如果我们做得好，我认为它确实能带来好处，”这可以帮助公用事业公司避免昂贵的电网升级或紧急节电措施。目前大多数消费者 VPP 项目并不像其名称听起来那么“戏剧化”，它们通常不会主动将你电动汽车或家用电池中的电能输送回电网。但“电池到电网”（battery-to-grid）项目正在兴起，未来可能会为消费者提供更大的节省空间。
So how do you actually sign up for a VPP? And how do you know if it’s worth it? 那么，你该如何注册 VPP？又该如何判断它是否值得呢？
1. Check whether your utility company has a program and, if so, whether it actually supports your devices.
1. 检查你的公用事业公司是否有相关项目，如果有，它是否支持你的设备。
The types and brands of home devices supported vary from program to program. Your utility’s website is the obvious place to look to see if yours qualifies, but it’s important to note that you may not actually see the phrase “virtual power plant” anywhere. You may have better luck searching for your utility’s name plus terms like “demand response,” “peak rewards,” “connected solutions,” “battery storage,” “smart thermostat rewards,” “managed charging,” or “bring your own device.” 支持的家用设备类型和品牌因项目而异。公用事业公司的网站是查看你的设备是否符合条件的最佳去处，但需要注意的是，你可能根本看不到“虚拟电厂”（virtual power plant）这个词。搜索你的公用事业公司名称加上“需求响应”（demand response）、“高峰奖励”（peak rewards）、“互联解决方案”（connected solutions）、“电池储能”（battery storage）、“智能恒温器奖励”（smart thermostat rewards）、“托管充电”（managed charging）或“自带设备”（bring your own device）等术语，可能会有更好的结果。
But don’t stop with the utility, Frader-Thompson says: “The way most people actually learn about this and sign up is through the manufacturer of the device they have.” In other words, the offer may show up through your smart thermostat app, EV app, or battery app, or in an email from the company that made the device. 但不要只盯着公用事业公司，Frader-Thompson 说：“大多数人了解并注册这些项目的方式，其实是通过他们所用设备的制造商。”换句话说，相关优惠可能会出现在你的智能恒温器应用、电动汽车应用或电池应用中，或者出现在设备制造商发送的电子邮件里。
Once you find a program, the instructions for enrollment may be as simple as clicking through an app, filling out a utility form, or confirming your account and device information through a third-party enrollment page. EV drivers may be able to see the terms and payment in their automaker app and enroll “with a click of a button,” says Joseph Vellone, CEO of the EV-focused VPP company ChargeScape. 一旦找到项目，注册说明可能非常简单，只需在应用中点击、填写公用事业表格，或通过第三方注册页面确认你的账户和设备信息即可。专注于电动汽车 VPP 的公司 ChargeScape 的首席执行官 Joseph Vellone 表示，电动汽车车主可以在汽车制造商的应用中查看条款和付款信息，并“一键注册”。
Eligibility can get annoyingly specific. A smart thermostat program could require an approved Wi-Fi thermostat; an EV program may depend on your automaker, charger, utility territory, or rate plan; a battery program may depend on the battery brand, inverter, or installer and whether your system can communicate with the utility. 资格要求可能会非常繁琐。智能恒温器项目可能需要经过认证的 Wi-Fi 恒温器；电动汽车项目可能取决于你的汽车制造商、充电器、公用事业区域或费率计划；电池项目则可能取决于电池品牌、逆变器、安装商以及你的系统是否能与公用事业公司通信。
These programs are also not evenly distributed across the country. Most programs are established in places with lots of flexible devices, stressed grids, supportive utilities, or strong state policies—especially California, Texas, New England, and increasingly parts of the mid-Atlantic region. 这些项目在全国范围内的分布也不均匀。大多数项目建立在拥有大量灵活设备、电网压力大、公用事业公司支持或州政策强力的地区——特别是加利福尼亚州、得克萨斯州、新英格兰地区，以及越来越多的中大西洋地区。
2. Ask yourself how much flexibility you can afford.
2. 问问自己你能承受多少灵活性。
Before you sign up for a VPP, you’ll want to determine whether you’re willing to let a company adjust a device in your home—even if it typically happens only a few times a week. 在注册 VPP 之前，你需要确定是否愿意让公司调节你家中的设备——即使这种情况通常每周只发生几次。
For some people, this may be an easy decision: If your EV sits plugged in all night but only needs two hours to charge, shifting when that charging happens may be almost invisible. A home battery program could be lucrative if you understand how often the battery will be used, how much backup power you can keep, and whether extra cycling affects your equipment. 对一些人来说，这可能是一个容易的决定：如果你的电动汽车整晚插着电，但只需要两个小时就能充满，那么调整充电时间几乎不会对你产生影响。如果你了解电池的使用频率、能保留多少备用电力，以及额外的循环充放电是否会影响设备，那么家用电池项目可能会非常划算。
Other households, however, “do not have the flexibility to engage in one of these programs,” says Sanya Carley, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and faculty director of the Climate Center for Energy Policy. She says that people who work night shifts, have caregiving responsibilities or health needs, or are already aggressively limiting their energy use to save money may have less room to allow a utility to adjust heating, cooling, or charging rates during peak hours for grid demand. 然而，其他家庭“没有灵活性参与这些项目，”宾夕法尼亚大学教授、气候能源政策中心主任 Sanya Carley 说。她说，那些上夜班、有照护责任或健康需求的人，或者为了省钱已经极度限制用电的人，可能没有多少余地允许公用事业公司在电网需求高峰时段调节供暖、制冷或充电速率。
3. Review the opt-out rules and read the fine print.
3. 查看退出规则并阅读细则。
VPP programs generally give participants the ability to override temporary changes made by the utility. This right to “opt out” is… VPP 项目通常允许参与者覆盖公用事业公司所做的临时更改。这种“退出”权利是……