Google To Pay Homes and Businesses To Curb Energy Usage

Google said it is partnering with energy company Voltus to pay homes and businesses to curb electricity use during peak hours, in the latest effort to mitigate the data center boom’s impact on power demand.

The companies on Thursday announced what they call a 1-gigawatt “virtual power plant,” that aims to reduce energy consumption in the Mid-Atlantic’s PJM grid region, which serves 67 million people.

Google said Voltus will use smart thermostats, batteries and industrial assets to aggregate and lower energy use to support grid reliability. In exchange, Voltus will give financial incentives including cash payments. The plan builds on a similar agreement between the companies earlier this year entailing 100 megawatts.

The announcement did not specify which data centers the initiative would support.