The Solar Dispatch

DMV Grid Policy

Virtual Power Plants in Virginia and Maryland: 2026

Virtual power plants pay homeowners and small businesses for letting a utility lean on their battery or EV during peak hours. Both Virginia and Maryland have now approved pilots, and the dates and dollar figures are starting to firm up.

By the Go Solar DMV news desk · Nov 8, 2026 · 5 min read

Virtual Power Plants in Virginia and Maryland: 2026

Key facts

What is a virtual power plant (VPP)?

A virtual power plant is a group of customer-owned energy devices — home batteries, bidirectional EV chargers, smart thermostats — that a utility can call on together during periods of high demand, and pay for in return. Maryland's Public Service Commission describes the programs it approved as paying customer-sited distributed energy resources, including bidirectional charging systems, for supporting the distribution grid9. Instead of firing up another generator, the utility dispatches thousands of small resources at once.

The scale is not trivial. Pepco said its Maryland plan could direct up to 185 megawatts of flexible load resources, which it says is enough to power about 110,000 to 120,000 homes, and in some cases export power from customer batteries and EVs back onto the distribution grid11.

Compensation is usually tied to performance: how many kilowatts you actually gave back, averaged across the dispatch events the utility called9. That is the part worth reading closely before you sign anything.

Virginia's virtual power plant program: the Dominion pilot

Virginia moved first among the states on a utility-scale pilot. Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed legislation on May 2 requiring Dominion Energy to propose a virtual power plant pilot program with up to 450 MW of capacity1. Residential, commercial and industrial customers are eligible, and the pilot must include incentives for at least 15 MW of residential battery additions1. The law, introduced as HB 2346/SB 1100, applies only to Dominion Energy Virginia — not to Appalachian Power and not to the electric co-ops1.

The pilot is no longer a proposal. The State Corporation Commission approved Dominion's energy efficiency and Virtual Power Plant applications in Case Nos. PUR-2025-00210 and PUR-2025-00211, holding an evidentiary hearing on May 18 and issuing a consolidated final order published on August 32. Dominion's own Virtual Power Plant page confirms the SCC has approved the pilot3.

Two statutory dates shaped the schedule: Dominion had to petition the SCC for the pilot by December 1, and to propose a program tariff for residential, commercial and industrial customers by November 15, 20261. That tariff is where the payment amounts get fixed, so it is the document to watch.

On launch timing, the sources do not agree. Dominion's SCC filing indicated the company expected to launch the VPP pilot in the first quarter of 2027, running through mid-20284, while Dominion's public timeline page shows an August 2026 ramp-up to launch programs, subject to approval3. The filing date is the more reliable of the two. The pilot itself runs until July 1, 2028, after which the SCC reviews the data, evaluates effectiveness, and may establish a permanent program6.

What Dominion's VPP may pay participants

Treat the numbers circulating now as preliminary. A contributor column published August 21, 2026 described the filed pilot as including a residential smart thermostat program paying $28 annually for customers who reduce load at least ten times when asked by Dominion, and a battery storage program for customers who install a battery and allow Dominion to disconnect utility power during peak events5. That same account said Dominion recommends a 13.5 kilowatt-hour battery system costing around $20,000, with customers receiving $1,000 for enrolling and $294 in following years5.

Those figures come from a secondary report, not from a tariff sheet or a Commission order. Until the approved tariff is public, we would not build a payback calculation around them. If you are sizing a system now, size it for your own outage and bill-management needs first, and treat any future VPP payment as upside. Our equipment page covers how battery capacity and inverter choice affect what a system can actually deliver during a peak event.

One piece of context: SCC staff filed testimony on October 19 recommending the panel reject the NextEra–Dominion merger as currently filed7. That proceeding does not touch the VPP docket, but it does occupy the same regulator.

Maryland's virtual power plant programs under the DRIVE Act

Maryland's path runs through the Distributed Renewable Integration and Vehicle Electrification (DRIVE) Act, H.B. 1256, passed in 2024. It required investor-owned utilities to file VPP pilot programs with the Public Service Commission by July 1, 2025, and directed the PSC to consider a process for transitioning to a permanent program if it finds that to be in the public interest8.

The Commission has since issued an order approving new virtual power plant and vehicle-to-grid pilot programs across BGE, Pepco Holdings and Potomac Edison9. Timing varies by utility, but the programs are anticipated to be in place for the 2027 summer season9. EnergySage lists approved pilots at BGE, Pepco, Delmarva and Potomac Edison10.

Structurally, BGE's residential bring-your-own-device program pays based on your device's nameplate capacity, while Pepco and Delmarva share a residential and small commercial program for batteries and EVs; Pepco is also moving its existing load management programs from EmPOWER Maryland into the DRIVE Act framework10. Maryland homeowners weighing storage can see how this sits alongside existing state programs on our Maryland incentives page.

What Maryland's VPP pilots pay — and why the figures conflict

As approved, pay-for-performance compensation is based on the average kilowatts curtailed during dispatch events, with Pepco at $75/kW-season and Delmarva at $40/kW-season9. The order also lists a performance incentive of up to $300/kW-year, and a connectivity incentive of up to $150 per connected year — though that connectivity incentive was not approved for utility rate recovery because it is not performance-based9.

A separate summary of the same programs describes $150–$300 per kW annually for the BGE pilot and $300 per kW annually for the Pepco and Delmarva pilot10. The season-based and annual figures cannot be reconciled from the public pages, so anyone quoting you a specific dollar amount today is ahead of the record. Wait for your utility's own enrollment page before counting the income.

How VPP payments interact with net metering

This is the open question for solar-plus-storage customers. The PSC interprets a payment for participating in a DRIVE Act program — such as $/kW-yr or $/kW-season — as payment for providing a grid service in response to a utility dispatch order, not as an incentive12. That distinction matters for how it appears on a bill.

The Commission also directed utilities to propose adjustments to their net energy metering compensation for DRIVE Act programs that consider partial compensation, but not full compensation12. In plain terms, exporting stored energy during a VPP event may be credited differently than ordinary net metering exports, and the details are still being written.

Further out, Maryland-licensed DER aggregators are to have access to all PJM-required information held exclusively by the electric utilities no later than January 1, 202813, and utilities have until 2028 to implement time-of-use tariffs that encourage off-peak consumption14.

What this means if you are considering solar and storage now

Neither state's program is accepting money into customer pockets yet. Virginia's pilot is approved with a launch expected in the first quarter of 20274, and Maryland's pilots are anticipated for the 2027 summer season9. A system designed and installed this year would be in place and commissioned well before either window opens.

The practical steps are the same either way: confirm your utility, since Virginia's mandate covers Dominion Energy Virginia only1, and understand that Maryland's residential programs are built around device nameplate capacity and battery or bidirectional EV participation10. If you want to see what your roof and usage support before any of this is final, start with Get Qualified.

Questions people ask

What is a virtual power plant definition in simple terms?

It is a network of customer-owned batteries, bidirectional EV chargers and smart devices that a utility dispatches together during peak demand and pays for the grid service9. Pepco estimates its Maryland program could direct up to 185 megawatts of flexible load11.

Is there a virtual power plant program in Virginia?

Yes. Legislation signed May 2 requires Dominion Energy to run a pilot of up to 450 MW, and the State Corporation Commission approved it in Case Nos. PUR-2025-00210 and PUR-2025-00211 with a final order published August 312. It applies to Dominion Energy Virginia customers only1.

When can Maryland customers enroll in a VPP?

The Public Service Commission has approved pilots at BGE, Pepco, Delmarva and Potomac Edison, with programs anticipated to be in place for the 2027 summer season910. Enrollment details will come from each utility.

Do I need a battery to participate?

Not always. Virginia's pilot opens participation to residential, commercial and industrial customers and includes a smart thermostat load-reduction component alongside battery incentives15. Maryland's Pepco and Delmarva program is built for batteries and EVs, while BGE pays based on device nameplate capacity10. Details on battery and inverter options are on our equipment page.

Will VPP payments reduce my net metering credits in Maryland?

That is still being decided. The PSC treats DRIVE Act payments as compensation for a grid service rather than an incentive, and has directed utilities to propose net energy metering adjustments that consider partial compensation but not full compensation12.

Sources

  1. Virginia utility-scale VPP pilot mandate is first amid national push - utilitydive.com
  2. Virginia Energy Regulatory Updates (August 2026) - ReisingerGooch - reisingergooch.com
  3. Virtual Power Plant - dominionenergy.com
  4. 260330144 COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA STATE CORPORATION COMMISSION - scc.virginia.gov
  5. New Dominion Energy Incentives - FXBG Advance - fxbgadvance.com
  6. VA SB1100 - billtrack50.com
  7. The Proposed NextEra-Dominion Energy Merger and the SCC: Why Your Utility Rates Are At Even Greater Risk - Blue Virginia - bluevirginia.us
  8. Virtual Power Plants - Electricity Affordability Toolkit - RMI - affordability-toolkit.rmi.org
  9. Maryland Approves New Vehicle-to-Grid Pilots — VGIC - vgicouncil.org
  10. Maryland Solar Incentives, Tax Credits & Rebates 2026 - energysage.com
  11. Pepco Seeks Approval for Virtual Power Plant Program in Maryland - The MoCo Show - mocoshow.com
  12. Choice State PSC Approves VPP, DER Aggregation Pilots - energychoicematters.com
  13. PSC Advances Virtual Power Plants and Grid Modernization - Maryland Public Service Commission - psc.maryland.gov
  14. Virtual power plants, DERs and home electrification get boost from trio of new Maryland laws - utilitydive.com
  15. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OF MARYLAND ENERGY STORAGE PILOT PROGRAM - psc.maryland.gov
  16. Virtual Power Plants (VPP) News - energychoicematters.com
  17. Maryland PSC outlines framework for developing virtual power plants - Daily Energy Insider - dailyenergyinsider.com
  18. Maryland Public Service Commission - en.wikipedia.org
  19. Maryland power plant research program - en.wikipedia.org
  20. Residential Electric Vehicle Energy Efficiency and Demand ... - dominionenergy.com

See what solar can do for your home · Check your roof score

More from the Dispatch