Lunar Energy and California CCAs are building the future of VPPs

A new model for the future of energy is taking shape in California. A growing number of community choice aggregators (CCAs) are demonstrating that residential energy storage can do far more than provide backup power. Through virtual power plant (VPP) programs, home batteries are evolving into connected energy resources capable of delivering value both inside the home and across the grid. 

Our new partnership with Central Coast Community Energy (3CE) is the latest example of how leading CCAs — including Ava Community Energy, Peninsula Clean Energy, and Silicon Valley Clean Energy — are leaning on Lunar and its Gridshare platform to pioneer a more intelligent approach to energy management.

Why CCAs are emerging as key energy innovators 

CCAs are uniquely positioned to help scale the next generation of distributed energy programs. As Load Serving Entities, they are directly responsible for procuring the power their customers use — which means they carry real financial exposure to wholesale electricity prices and are required by regulators to secure sufficient capacity to meet peak demand. Unlike traditional utilities, which can recover procurement costs through regulated rate cases, CCAs success depends on how efficiently they serve their load. That creates a powerful incentive to do things differently.

Because they operate closer to customers and have more flexibility in program design, they can move faster in testing new ways to manage their load curve while creating value for customers.

By connecting local customers with programs that use home batteries and other devices as flexible grid resources, CCAs can help homeowners save while easing strain on the grid. It’s a win-win: lower bills for families, more reliable power for communities, and a faster path to a cleaner energy system.

Solving the challenge of scaling VPPs  

There is growing consensus across the industry that VPPs will play a major role in our energy future, as they provide one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to bring new capacity onto the grid. But expanding these programs successfully requires more than simply deploying batteries or other distributed energy devices. 

The real unlock is coordination. To create meaningful value at scale, thousands of individual assets need to work together as part of a larger connected network, responding intelligently to shifting demand, changing grid conditions, and real-time energy use. 

How Lunar is helping CCAs turn homes into active grid resources 

Software is what makes that grid-scale energy coordination possible. By working with Lunar, partners like 3CE can shape their load curve with devices automatically being optimized in response to market pricing, or by dispatching those devices regularly at particular times of day.

The opportunity goes beyond batteries, too. Gridshare can help coordinate EV chargers, smart thermostats, heat pump water heaters, and other connected devices, allowing entire homes to function as flexible energy resources.

A model that can extend beyond California 

California’s growing CCA ecosystem shows what’s possible when distributed energy programs are designed to create value for both homeowners and the broader power system.

As electricity demand rises and energy markets grow more complex, the grid of tomorrow will depend on intelligent energy coordination at scale. We firmly believe the model emerging in California offers an early blueprint for how energy providers everywhere can unlock the full potential of distributed energy in the years ahead.

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