Guidehouse Insights Leaderboard: Virtual Power Plant Platform Vendors

Research

1 Apr

This article was originally posted by Guidehouse Insights in Q2 of 2022.

Assessment of Strategy and Execution for 16 Companies

Energy markets are increasingly relying on distributed energy resources (DER) that generate, consume, or store electricity creating a two-way power flow system. A platform that can manage that more complicated two-way configuration is a virtual power plant (VPP). In essence, VPPs link retail markets to wholesale markets with the primary goal of maximizing profit for DER owners while maintaining the proper balance of electricity on the grid at the lowest economic and environmental cost. VPPs use the concept that intelligent aggregation and optimization of DER can provide the same services as a traditional, centralized 24/7 plant.

VPPs can transform passive consumers into more active prosumers through the integration of new technologies such as demand response, solar PV systems, energy storage, and EVs. Prosumers become active participants in grid operations, delivering the energy services they need but when called on, can also serve the needs of the larger grid. The companies profiled in this report represent some of the most forward thinking and innovative companies in the VPP platform market.

This Guidehouse Insights Leaderboard examines the Strategy and Execution of 16 VPP platform vendors whose platforms can create mixed-asset VPPs. These providers are rated on the following criteria: vision; go-to-market strategy; partners/acquisitions/investors; DERMS integration strategy; technology scope; geographic reach; sales, marketing, and distribution; platform performance; value chain capture; project portfolio; business model; and staying power. Using Guidehouse Insights’ proprietary Leaderboard methodology, vendors are profiled, rated, and ranked with the goal of providing an objective assessment of their relative strengths and weaknesses in the global VPP platform market.