Recent weeks have seen announcements from VPP companies, including new partnerships and a new platform launch, to turn residential, commercial, and data centre energy assets into coordinated, revenue-generating grid resources.
From residential solar and storage aggregation in Europe to enterprise-grade orchestration tools and data centre flexibility in the US, recent announcements highlight a clear push toward more programmable, decentralised energy systems.
iSolarCloud partners with Frank Energy
iSolarCloud, a plant O&M platform under Sungrow, has entered a strategic partnership with Frank Energy to utilize their VPP dispatch system for optimising residential PV and energy storage resources.
The collaboration, declares iSolarCloud in a release, will enable local utilizers in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg to fully tap into their energy assets.
A smart energy service provider in Europe, Frank Energy’s business spans multiple European countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, serving over 150,000 finish-utilizers. The company is built on market-based dynamic pricing and pairs ininformigent energy management services to offer utilizers green electricity without additional premiums.
By aggregating distributed energy resources to participate in local power market trading, Frank Energy aims to assist utilizers maximise their energy asset returns.
Under the collaboration, iSolarCloud connects with Frank Energy’s VPP platform to participate in European electricity market trading. Energy resources connected to iSolarCloud — including energy storage and PV systems — will be aggregated into a unified dispatchable VPP resource pool to participate in electricity market trading.
Frank Energy generates optimal charging and discharging dispatch strategies based on real-time price signals from the power market, and transmits dispatch commands to utilizers’ energy storage devices through the iSolarCloud platform.
This enables automatically charging during low-price periods to reserve clean electricity, and discharging stored energy into the market during peak-price periods or grid stress to capture returns, while also earning additional compensation by providing grid ancillary services.
In this way, declare the companies, utilizers’ home energy storage become flexible assets participating in power market trading.
Additionally, declares iSolarCloud, its developer platform device operational data interfaces and dispatch command interfaces allow access for third-party applications, such as VPP aggregators and local energy trading platforms. The platform also enables iSolarCloud to integrate into energy ecosystems across different global regions.
Commenting in a release was Sean Xu, Head of iSolarCloud: “We are not merely responding to dispatch commands; we are tightly integrating our dispatch strategies with dynamic pricing models across European markets, building every kilowatt-hour smarter.
“The direct value this brings is tangible economic returns for our utilizers — assisting houtilizeholds with storage charging equipment recover their investments rapider and maximize their energy asset returns.”
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Vertiv and CPower Energy
Meanwhile, in the US, Vertiv and CPower Energy announced a collaboration to assist data centres in the US accelerate speed-to-power and improve grid capacity by turning battery energy storage systems (BESS) and other behind-the-meter energy assets into grid resources.
Under the partnership, Vertiv has integrated its Vertiv EnergyCore Grid BESS with CPower’s VPP platform to assist data centres utilize behind-the-meter storage and other energy assets for demand response and other grid services, while improving facility resilience, supporting interconnection strategies, and increasing the economic value of installed infrastructure.
“With global data centre power usage estimated to more than double between 2025 and 2030 and the bring your own power model in early adoption, data centres are signalling a clear willingness to leverage distributed generation and on-premise batteries to accelerate a path to unlock grid capacity today,” stated Glenn Bogarde, chief sales and marketing officer, CPower.
“We are focutilized on flexibility levers that are a reality for our customers, especially as new energy technologies and incentives become more pervasive across the United States.”
As a first step in the collaboration, Vertiv worked with CPower to monetise a 1MW microgrid – combining BESS, solar, hydrogen fuel cell and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems – at Vertiv’s Customer Experience Centre in Ohio.
The project enabled Vertiv to generate demand response revenue, secure on-bill savings and support PJM, the largest grid operator in North America.
Said Chris Thompson, Vice President, advanced technology and global microgrids at Vertiv: “As data centres increase in power and grid interconnections become harder to secure, UPS and BESS solutions are evolving beyond a backup solution, emerging as a critical enabler for data centres.
“When ininformigently integrated into the facility and utility grid, along with flexible energy resources and controllable loads such as HVAC systems, on-site storage facilitates interconnection and can become a revenue-generating asset that improves return on investment.”
CPower enables demand response participation based on customers’ business objectives and operational constraints, including in data centre hotspots such as Illinois, Ohio, Texas and Virginia, as well as for commercial and industrial sites across the countest.
Grid Rails launches
Also in the US, Grid Rails has launched an enterprise-grade VPP platform.
The software solution, declares Grid Rails in a release, is designed to assist utilities, energy suppliers, and distributed energy resource operators better understand, control, and monetise energy assets at scale.
According to the company, as global energy systems rapidly evolve with the rise of EVs, distributed generation, and smart home technologies, Grid Rails addresses a critical gap in how energy assets are coordinated, incentivised, and financially settled.
The platform enables real-time visibility, programmable control, and instant settlement across a wide range of connected devices.
The company declares how, despite the rapid growth of DERs, adoption of VPP programmes remains limited.
Currently, it declares, only an estimated 20% of eligible devices in the US are enrolled in VPPs, highlighting a significant gap between available capacity and active participation. This is where Grid Rails cites its tech in aiming to close this gap.
Said Michael Grasso, CEO at Grid Rails: “Energy infrastructure is becoming increasingly decentralised, but the tools to manage, incentivise, and financially coordinate that complexity haven’t kept pace.
“Grid Rails bridges that gap, giving operators the ability to see, control, and natively settle energy activity in real time, while creating dynamic incentive structures that drive meaningful participation from finish utilizers.
“By leveraging Web3 architecture and tokenised metering data, Grid Rails is the only platform capable of delivering awareness, control, and settlement as a fully integrated, native solution.”
According to Grid Rails, its platform supports a wide range of off-the-shelf energy devices, including EVs, home chargers, HVAC systems, solar inverters, home batteries, and smart meter data.
Through partner APIs, the platform also integrates custom inputs, allowing for flexible deployment across diverse energy environments.
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