https://qz.com/1291660/virtual-power-plants-are-powering-the-grid-without-fuel/ > Utilities around the world began installing batteries in the mid-1980s (pdf). They didn’t amount to much. At best, these lead-acid batteries could supply a brief burst of energy before conventional power plants had to take over. No longer. Now, cheap, lithium-ion batteries paired with powerful software that can connect far-flung energy resources are giving birth to emissions-free “virtual power plants” (VPP) that are affordable and reliable enough to replace traditional, polluting energy sources. > VPPs don’t burn fuel. They’re not located in a single place. In some ways, they don’t even really create new energy. Instead, they’re a network of energy resources—typically batteries as well as “demand-response” assets, which are businesses willing to curtail energy use as needed—that work in concert. Grid operators can tapVPPs to balance electricity supply and demand on a moment’s notice, essentially playing the same grid-balancing role as a power plant might play.