Generac and CPower have announced a collaboration to allow Generac customers access to distributed energy resources (DER) programs like demand response (DR) and virtual power plants (VPP) across the PJM Interconnection — America’s largest regional grid.
The partnership leverages CPower’s software platform to enable customers in the commercial and industrial (C&I) sector to participate in offering grid services like capacity, ancillary services, energy and on-bill programs, which the two companies say will create new sources of recurring energy revenue and savings.
“This partnership is a real-world example of how distributed generation and demand response can be mobilized today to help address rising demand and affordability pressures without waiting for large-scale transmission expansion.” said Russ Newbold, VP of distributed generation growth at CPower in a statement to pv magazine USA. ”We look forward to collaborating with Generac to enable further flexibility and reliability for communities across PJM.”
Measuring the scale of the opportunity
Large industrial customers are charged differently than other retail customers, with part of their bills being calculated based on their expected peak load contribution (PLC), a measurement of a facility’s expected peak load — expressed in megawatts (MW) of power — during the five specific hours of the year when the PJM grid hits its highest coincident peaks.
An industrial facility is charged a capacity cost on every day of the year based on its assigned number of peak MW. With clearing prices for the PJM interconnection at $329.17 per MW per day for the 2026/2027 delivery year, the reduction of a facility’s PLC by even a fraction of a megawatt can save the facility owner tens of thousands of dollars in avoided capacity charges.
The savings represented by management of a facility’s PLC is just one of the potential benefits of a demand response and VPP program like the one offered by CPower and Generac. Other monetary benefits can arise from dispatching customer batteries, generators and other resources at different times.
“Assets may be compensated in different ways because generators, batteries and load may each provide value to the grid in different programs,” said Newbold. “The differences are driven by how each asset supports the grid, how often it is used and how it is valued by system operators and utilities. For example, batteries are good for short duration dispatches in PJM ancillary services.”
CPower is widely recognized as a leader in the C&I VPP space, appearing among the top companies by GW under management in Wood Mackenzie’s annual VPP reports. The company, which currently manages 6.7 GW of customer capacity, told pv magazine USA it delivered an estimated 38 GWh of total load relief to the grid in 2025 — an increase of 137% over its 2024 deliveries.
The Generac and CPower program is available to customers now.
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