The Different Types of VPPs

VPPs are often described in the industry press as a bit like net metering, where a distribution utility pays a retail customer for supplying energy back to the grid. In many of the VPP arrangements involved an aggregator bidding a service into a structured wholesale market. And there's no tariff offered by the retail utility that would compensate the customers for offering demand response. So this kind of arrangement is chunky, it's rudimentary, in exchange for a one-time payment or a SWAG.