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A virtual power plant built from more than 5,500 leased home batteries run by Green Mountain Power has become Vermont’s largest source of power. Participants report no outages since installing the systems, which the utility taps to reduce grid demand in place of building new fossil fuel plants.
A network of home batteries installed in more than 5,500 Vermont households has quietly become the state’s largest power source, according to a BBC report published on September 28, 2026. The system, a virtual power plant run by the utility Green Mountain Power (GMP), links customer batteries with solar panels, EV batteries and demand-response resources to reduce strain on the grid — replacing the need to build additional fossil fuel plants while keeping homes powered through storms.
The programme, which began as a pilot in 2017, installs two batteries in a participant’s home for $55 (£41) a month under a 10-year lease. For customers like Pollyanna Bladyka of Springfield, Vermont, the appeal was practical rather than environmental: she had been on the verge of buying a $12,000 gas generator in 2024 before her electrician told her about the programme. Since the batteries were installed that year, she says her household has not lost power once. Her batteries can run her home for about two days during an outage if usage such as dishwashing and laundry is kept to a minimum, she says.
Enrolment accelerated after state regulators lifted a cap on the programme in 2023, according to GMP, with more than 2,500 people enrolling since then. GMP, which serves over 75% of Vermont, can draw on participants’ batteries whenever needed, though customers always retain a reserve of power for themselves — particularly during outages. Around 50% of the households in the programme with batteries also have rooftop solar, according to the utility.
Another participant, Megan Browning of northern Vermont, who has had two batteries and rooftop solar for about a year, said a recent severe windstorm knocked out power to many neighbours but she “didn’t even notice a flicker” at her home. Kate Peters, a virtual power plant expert at the consultancy The Brattle Group, said GMP’s programme may be one of the largest battery programmes in the United States, though several similar virtual power plants have emerged across the country in recent years.
Resilience in a Rural, Cold State
Vermont’s rural geography and extreme winters make prolonged outages potentially dangerous — the BBC report draws a parallel to the 2021 Texas grid failure, where lack of backup power proved deadly for some residents. A distributed network of batteries offers resilience that a centralized system struggles to match: when a storm knocks out one line, homes with stored power can ride through it independently.
The programme also matters beyond Vermont. Virtual power plants do not generate electricity themselves; they use software to manage and conserve energy more intelligently, stretching existing capacity at moments of peak demand. That reduces or delays the need for utilities to build new fossil fuel-fired plants. GMP has set a goal of eliminating all power outages by 2030, with the battery programme playing a strong role alongside measures such as burying power lines underground.
For customers, the economics are also part of the draw. A $55 monthly lease compares with the roughly $12,000 up-front cost of the gas generator Bladyka had considered — and many experts, including GMP chief executive Mari McClure, describe such systems as a model for the electric grid of the future: “We believe in a two-way grid,” McClure told the BBC.
How Virtual Power Plants Emerged
Virtual power plants aggregate thousands — or millions — of consumer devices into one orchestrated system that functions within the wider grid like a traditional power plant. Devices can include home batteries, rooftop solar, smart thermostats and electric vehicle batteries. The concept has existed for decades but has gained popularity in recent years as energy demand has risen and more distributed resources such as rooftop solar have been connected to grids. Virtual power plants are now being built in countries from Germany to China, according to the report.
In Vermont, the trajectory ran from a small GMP pilot in 2017 to a capped lease programme, and then to rapid growth after regulators removed the cap in 2023. GMP’s version combines home batteries with EV batteries, commercial demand response and a handful of utility-scale batteries. When a customer’s batteries are not being used for backup, the utility can draw on the aggregated stored energy to trim peak demand.
“I didn’t even notice a flicker.”
— Megan Browning, programme participant in northern Vermont
Limits of Scaling the Model
Several questions remain open. The BBC report says Vermont is still “testing how far this hidden form of power can go”, but does not quantify how much of the state’s peak demand the virtual plant can actually displace, nor how many additional homes would need to enrol to replace conventional generation capacity outright.
Peters’ assessment that the programme may be one of the largest in the US is hedged and not independently verified against other utilities’ programmes. The report also does not detail the programme’s total cost, how much customers are compensated relative to the value GMP extracts from their batteries, or how the system performed across a full winter peak. Whether GMP can meet its 2030 zero-outage goal through this approach combined with undergrounding is unproven.
Enrolment Growth and the 2030 Target
GMP says enrolment has continued to grow steadily since 2023, and the utility will keep expanding the programme as part of its plan to eliminate outages by 2030. Vermont regulators and the utility will effectively be testing whether a virtual power plant can scale from 5,500 homes to a system capable of covering the state’s full needs, including winter peaks.
Nationally, similar programmes are emerging at other utilities, and experts such as Peters suggest the model will spread as more homes adopt batteries, solar and EVs. The results in Vermont — one of the earliest and largest tests of the concept — are likely to inform whether virtual power plants become a standard utility tool or remain a niche programme.
Key Questions
How much does the Vermont home battery programme cost?
Participants pay $55 (£41) per month under a 10-year lease for two batteries installed in their home, according to Green Mountain Power.
What is a virtual power plant?
It is a network of many consumer devices — home batteries, rooftop solar, smart thermostats, EV batteries — coordinated by software to behave like a single traditional power plant. It does not generate power itself; it manages and conserves energy to reduce grid demand at peak times.
Can the utility drain my battery during an outage?
According to GMP, the utility can tap into programme batteries when needed, but customers always retain a reserve of power for themselves, especially during outages. Participants like Pollyanna Bladyka say their batteries can run their home for about two days with reduced usage.
How many Vermont homes have batteries through the programme?
More than 5,500 households have home battery systems, with over 2,500 enrolling since 2023, when state regulators lifted a cap on the programme.
Could this model work outside Vermont?
Virtual power plants are already being built in Germany, China and elsewhere in the US. Whether the model can fully replace conventional plants at larger scale is still being tested; Vermont’s programme is one of the largest battery-based efforts and its growth is being watched as a test case.
Source: hn
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