The East is Building Momentum for Community Power Networks
Across the Eastern U.S., communities are already generating, storing, and managing energy in new ways. Rooftop solar panels, home batteries, smart thermostats, and electric vehicles are becoming increasingly common, creating an opportunity to use these distributed energy resources to build a more reliable and affordable clean energy system.
The challenge (and opportunity) is connecting and coordinating these resources so they can work together. That’s where Community Power Networks come in.
Community Power Networks (you might hear experts call them virtual power plants or VPPs) connect local energy resources like solar panels and smart thermostats into coordinated networks that can support the energy grid when it’s needed most. They help communities harness the power they already have while lowering costs, improving reliability, and accelerating the transition to clean energy.
Momentum is Growing Across the East
Lawmakers and regulators across the East are rethinking the role local energy resources can play in powering the grid.
Some are advancing legislation that would make it easier for distributed energy resources to work together and support their communities. Both New York and Pennsylvania lawmakers have introduced legislation that would create new opportunities for homes and businesses to participate in community power networks.
Other states are tackling the challenge through regulatory proceedings. In New Jersey, Vote Solar recently submitted comments on the state’s battery storage incentive and virtual power plant proceedings, emphasizing how these programs can prioritize equity and protect ratepayers from volatility in the PJM market.
Further south, momentum is building in the Carolinas. In North Carolina, recent analysis found Duke Energy’s PowerPair program is already delivering significant economic benefits, reinforcing the value of investing in customer-owned solar and storage. Vote Solar is also advocating for community power networks as part of the state’s ongoing integrated resource planning process. Meanwhile, in South Carolina, discussions are underway about expanding distributed energy resource programs and creating new opportunities for ratepayers to benefit from solar and storage technologies.
And some states are already demonstrating what’s possible with community power networks.
Massachusetts has become a leading example through ConnectedSolutions, one of the nation’s most successful virtual power plant programs. Thousands of ratepayers are already using batteries and distributed energy resources to help reduce peak demand and support the grid. The Union of Concerned Scientists found that Massachusetts has 40 GW of highly suitable behind-the-meter solar and storage potential statewide—more than 1.5 times the state’s projected 2050 peak electricity demand. That means there is already enough local solar and storage potential across homes, businesses, and communities to play a major role in meeting future energy needs if those resources are connected and coordinated through Community Power Networks. And right now, lawmakers have an opportunity to lean into that success through a comprehensive Energy Omnibus Bill. Vote Solar is supporting provisions that would expand the use of community power networks, establish community power deployment targets, and create a stronger policy framework for customer-owned energy resources to participate in grid services.
Taken together, these efforts tell a larger story: across the East, states are increasingly recognizing that communities can help power the grid.
The Future Is Local
For generations, our energy system was built around large power plants sending electricity in one direction to homes and businesses.
But today’s energy system looks different.
People are generating electricity from rooftop solar. They’re storing it in batteries. They’re managing their energy use with smart technologies. And increasingly, they’re becoming active participants in how the grid operates.
Community Power Networks build on that reality. They create opportunities for local energy resources to work together, helping communities play a more active role in powering the grid while reducing costs and improving reliability.
The East’s energy future won’t be powered by any single technology or policy.
It will be built by connecting the resources that already exist in homes, businesses, and communities across the region.
From New York to the Carolinas, that future is already beginning to take shape.