National Grid and Sunrun Lead the Way in Virtual Power Plants Amid Rising Energy Demand

National Grid and Sunrun are poised to benefit from the growing demand for electricity and the rise of virtual power plants (VPPs). As coal and gas plants retire faster than replacements are built, utilities are turning to VPPs, which use smart thermostats, EV chargers, and home batteries as a single power source. These two companies are seeing additional revenue and profits from offering VPPs, driven by power-hungry data centers and the increasing use of artificial intelligence. National Grid has reported a 12% increase in underlying profit to $3.1 billion and a 6% rise in underlying earnings per share. Sunrun has seen rising benefits from VPPs, with its shares up over 40% in the past year.