ON–DEMAND Act

What it does

• •Requires the Secretary of Energy to convene stakeholder meetings and develop model standards and best practices for virtual power plant adoption within one year, addressing design, costs, customer experience, and grid measurement.
• •Directs the Secretary, in coordination with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to establish communication protocols and cybersecurity standards for interoperability between virtual power plants, distributed energy resources, and electric grid systems.
• •Mandates the Secretary provide technical assistance to electric utilities, regulators, state energy offices, and other stakeholders for planning and operating virtual power plant projects.

Why it matters

• •The bill addresses barriers to scaling virtual power plants, which can reduce grid costs, improve reliability, reduce emissions, and lower consumer energy costs through distributed energy resource coordination.
• •Standardized protocols and cybersecurity measures aim to enable cost-effective integration of diverse distributed energy resources and protect consumer data while allowing seamless participation in virtual power plant programs.

Who is affected

• •Electric utilities, load-serving entities, state regulatory authorities, rural electric cooperatives, municipal utilities, and state energy offices.
• •Distributed energy resource owners, aggregators, consumers, and grid operators involved in virtual power plant operations.

What happens next

The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology for consideration.