{"id":7638,"date":"2025-12-09T16:29:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T21:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedems.com\/irwin\/?p=7638"},"modified":"2025-12-09T16:32:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T21:32:06","slug":"virtual-power-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/irwin\/2025\/12\/09\/virtual-power-plants\/","title":{"rendered":"Sens. Shink, Irwin\u00a0Promote Better Use of Energy Resources with Virtual Power Plants\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.3&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.3&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_column _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.3&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221;][et_pb_text _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.3&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; theme_builder_area=&#8221;post_content&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span><i data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">Innovative energy proposal would use existing resources to help lower utility costs, increase energy reliability and resiliency<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p><span><i data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\"><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p><i data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\"> <\/i><\/p>\n<p><i data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\"><\/i>LANSING,\u00a0Mich. (Dec. 9,\u00a02025) \u2014\u00a0Today,\u00a0Sens.<b>\u00a0Sue Shink<span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>(D-Northfield Twp.) and <b>Jeff\u00a0Irwin<span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>(D-Ann Arbor) introduced legislation to use virtual power plants to improve efficiency and grid reliability.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t meet our state\u2019s future energy needs with\u00a020th-century infrastructure,\u201d said Sen.<span>\u00a0<\/span><b>Shink<\/b>. \u201cThis legislation will help us create the flexibility and reliability to rise to modern energy challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Senate Bill 731 would create definitions needed to make virtual power plants work under Michigan law. Senate Bill 732 would direct the Michigan Public Service Commission to establish regulations requiring utilities to include virtual power plants in their plans for distribution and transmission. The virtual power plant aggregators and the owners of individual behind-the-meter resources would be compensated for grid services that increase grid resilience and reliability or provide net savings to ratepayers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe urgently need to improve electrical reliability and transition away from energy sources that are driving climate change,\u201d said Sen.<span>\u00a0<\/span><b>Irwin<\/b>. \u201cWe already have resources we can use for this, but they can\u2019t be coordinated in an organized way without the framework this legislation will provide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Virtual power plants aggregate existing distributed energy resources, including not just distributed generation but also storage and demand response, to meet fluctuations in electrical demand. They deploy resources and downregulate demand as needed, avoiding the need for costly \u201cpeaker plants\u201d to meet demand spikes. When more electricity is needed, virtual power plants coordinate diverse resources in decentralized locations by bringing distributed generation online, pulling stored energy from batteries or vehicles, and stepping down high-demand uses. Virtual power plants also enable cleaner sources of electrical generation by evening out fluctuations in supply from solar or wind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVirtual power plants can prevent price spikes and power outages, especially as extreme weather and data centers put more strain on our electrical grid,\u201d\u00a0said<span>\u00a0<\/span><b>Justin Carpenter<\/b>, Policy Director for the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council.\u00a0\u201cWe can&#8217;t afford not to use existing resources to their fullest potential to ensure our communities benefit from lower costs, greater reliability, and a more resilient energy future.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\" style=\"text-align: center;\">###<\/div>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Innovative energy proposal would use existing resources to help lower utility costs, increase energy reliability and resiliency LANSING,\u00a0Mich. (Dec. 9,\u00a02025) \u2014\u00a0Today,\u00a0Sens.\u00a0Sue Shink\u00a0(D-Northfield Twp.) and Jeff\u00a0Irwin\u00a0(D-Ann Arbor) introduced legislation to use [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sens. Shink, Irwin\u00a0Promote Better Use of Energy Resources with Virtual Power Plants\u00a0 - Senator Jeff Irwin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sens. 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