US virtual power plant (VPP) operator Voltus has partnered with Octopus Energy US to build flexible capacity portfolios for utilities, grid operators, and data center firms.

The two companies will jointly deliver Flexibility-as-a-Service and Bring Your Own Capacity (BYOC) solutions. As part of the tie-up, Voltus will leverage its load flexibility platform and customer base alongside Octopus’ consumer engagement and optimization technology.

“Octopus understands that load flexibility is the fastest to deploy form of capacity,” said Dana Guernsey, CEO of Voltus. “By combining our platforms and customer relationships, we can deploy VPPs at the accelerated scale and speed that is needed to meet today’s load growth needs.”

In the project’s first phase, slated to commence this year, Octopus will supply Voltus with aggregations of residential consumer devices such as smart thermostats, EVs, and home batteries across the PJM, MISO, New York, and California grids. Voltus will, in turn, add the residential capacity into its VPP portfolios, increasing the resources available in the markets. In addition, Voltus will provide its customers with the opportunity to participate in Octopus’s VPPs alongside their utility customers.

“The clean energy transition is creating an urgent, multi-billion dollar opportunity for demand side flexibility that Octopus Energy and Voltus can address with Flexibility-as-a-Service,” said Nick Chaset, CEO of Octopus US. “By combining the unique, complementary strengths of Octopus Energy and Voltus, we can move faster to deliver flexibility at the scale the grid needs, while putting money back in consumers’ pockets.”

Founded in 2015, Octopus Energy US is a spin-out of UK based energy and technology firm Octopus Energy. The company’s UK arm has signed several deals in the data center space over the past few years. Most recently, it inked a deal with UAE-based renewable energy firm Masdar to identify underutilized capacity within local distribution networks and develop on-site energy systems to support faster deployment of data centers.

Voltus is a distributed energy and VPP platform that operates across the US. It connects distributed energy resources (DERs) to all nine wholesale markets in North America, with more than 7.5GW of DERs in operation. The company launched its BYOC solution in October of last year. The program is designed to accelerate data center development by leveraging existing flexibility on the grid. It achieves this by offering developers an alternative pathway to interconnection, using its VPP platform to deliver market-accredited capacity.