wow first time I heard about this virtual power plant... what sorcery is this? can explain more?
Basically tesla will host an electrical market exchange.
Pre-requisite is having a large enough battery capacity to store extra energy during off-peak hours and unload during peak hours. also they will need all the utilities operators to sign up with them as well as local governments' support.
Under the plan, tesla vehicles supposedly can plug into the grid, communicate with the electrical marketplace exchange server and act like a battery....owner of the vehicles will earn some pennies/incentives(depending on peak/offpeak) while doing this.
This idea is mainly for tackling the unreliabilty of solar and wind.
Cons of this plan is.
1. Political hurdles.
2. Competition have no incentive to sign up.
3. Difficult to monetize.
4. Competition can always come up with a similar product.
5. The more electricity moves thru the grid or gets converted into battery storage....the more energy you lose to heat.
Still...this is an idea i like and would like to see it get developed into an economical solution.