The increased demand for electricity in data centers and the use of AI, combined with extreme weather and wildfires, are finally putting Seattle’s 5-year-old Edo campaign in the spotlight.
Edo’s technology creates virtual power plants (VPPs), which dial back the electricity used by commercial buildings during times of peak demand – a strategy that has attracted serious new interest from utilities and building operators alike.
“It’s at the forefront of every conversation in the circles we’re in – and it’s very common,” says Hellai Sherzoi, director of marketing.
Virtual power plants help utilities cope with peak demand by reducing non-essential use. Without that flexibility, utilities must build expensive power generation facilities, install large batteries or trigger indiscriminate blackouts and blackouts.
VPPs also help property operators save money. Services are increasingly using “time-of-use” pricing, which can include variable rates similar to the variable costs common to Lyft and Uber riders, making real-time responses important.
To limit exposure to high prices, building operators can take measures such as pre-cooling and pre-heating spaces, charging electric vehicles, or performing time-sensitive operations when electricity is cheap. Sites with solar power or battery storage can feed energy back into the grid when it is needed most.
Smart home devices and companies such as Tesla, Sunrun and EnergyHub make VPPs for residential areas, while Voltus, CPower Energy and others focus on industrial businesses.
But commercial buildings are an important target market, accounting for about 35% of US electricity consumption, according to agency sources. This sector has been left out, says Jesse Rebello, the managing director of Edo: “This lot of cargo has not been used.”
The US Department of Energy estimates that VPPs could provide 80-160 gigawatts of variable capacity by 2030 if adopted quickly. Ultimately, that’s the equivalent of building 66 nuclear reactors like Eastern Washington’s Columbia Generating Station.
“VPPs have evolved from niche solutions to critical energy resources, reshaping long-term grid planning,” noted a DOE blog post.
Edo was launched in 2021 as a partnership between McKinstry, a national construction and energy company, and Avista, a Pacific Northwest utility.
PitchBook reports that Edo received $15 million in investments from Avista and McKinstry. The company was also awarded a $6.7 million DOE Connected Communities grant, with Avista and other partners contributing $4.9 million in matching funds. The company has not yet reached profitability.
A team of 45 employees works with more than 7,000 buildings across the US Edo installs hardware that connects to systems that control building operations, analyzes complex inputs, and maps systems that use how much energy and when. The startup then works with building operators to identify where inefficiencies exist and adjust energy usage to meet utility needs.
“We’re giving commercial buildings visibility and insight they’ve never had before,” Sherzoi said, “and all while providing services in reliable ways so they can tap into that building as a resource when the grid needs help.”
