Developing a Utility's First Virtual Power Plant Valuation Framework

Helped a public power utility decide how to launch its first virtual power plant, and built the 20-year benefit-cost model used to make the case to leadership.

Seattle City Light · Energy Market & Carbon Policy Intern, summer 2026

At a glance

Role Led research and built the benefit-cost model for a cross-department working group
Scope The utility's first virtual power plant program, reviewed by executive leadership
Methods Weighted decision criteria, 20-year benefit-cost analysis, scenario analysis, peer benchmarking
Tools Excel
Skills Distributed energy valuation, power market value, resource planning, modeling under uncertainty, stakeholder engagement
Available on request Masked methodology

The question

Electricity demand in the Pacific Northwest is growing faster than new power plants can be built. New supply carries its own risks: projects must secure sites, permits, and transmission interconnection, which can take years; costs and schedules can slip; and wind and solar output varies with the weather, so it contributes less at winter peaks. A virtual power plant (VPP) offers another option: paying customers to shift or reduce their use of devices like EV chargers and water heaters when the grid is stretched. For a utility launching its first program, two questions come first: which devices to start with, and whether the program is worth what it costs.

What I did

  1. Established evaluation criteria. Developed weighted criteria, grounded in industry research and peer utility programs, to select which customer devices the program should enroll first.
  2. Built the business case. Designed a 20-year benefit-cost model for the utility’s EV managed charging program, accounting for all substantial, measurable implementation costs and for benefits from added flexibility, capacity, the distribution and transmission system, and GHG compliance, across multiple scenarios.
  3. Connected market operations and finance. Represented the power trading perspective in a cross-department working group, educated internal stakeholders, and translated operational value into quantifiable value streams.
  4. Built consensus. Aligned stakeholders across the utility on the methodology, which advanced to executive review.
Value and cost stack for a hypothetical 100 MW EV managed charging program, scaled from the model's per-kW values. Totals are rescaled to protect the utility's confidential results.
The internal teams a utility needs to value, run and approve a first VPP program, from the author's experience in a cross-department working group.

What it shows

  • Customer devices, valued like a power plant. The model lets the utility compare a VPP side by side with supply-side resources.
  • Clear thinking under uncertainty. Benchmarks and scenarios show the range of outcomes, providing guidance for planning amid uncertainty and risk.
  • Built for ratepayers. The program design needs to be cost-efficient, reducing the cost of serving load that is passed on to ratepayers.

The utility’s data, internal discussion, and results are confidential. A masked version of the methodology is available to employers on request. Contact me.