Sal Miranda (C) and Tony Chang of the nonprofit GRID Alternatives install no-cost solar panels on the rooftop of a low-income household on October 19, 2023, in Pomona, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images).
On Tuesday, a set of Democratic senators introduced a set of policies to incorporate virtual power plants into the state’s energy system.
Virtual power plants aggregate distributed energy resources, like rooftop solar panels and battery storage, to help meet changes in energy demand. These systems can help circumvent demand for peaker plants, which only run when energy demand is at its highest, and can help even out fluctuations in energy supply generated through wind or solar…