Dynamic load reduction program enables distributed energy resources to bolster grid flexibility and help protect against price volatility

Leap, a leading energy market access provider, and NRG Energy, Inc. brand Direct Energy, a retail electric provider serving C&I customers in Texas, today announced a strategic partnership to deploy a real-time grid services program in Texas to bolster grid flexibility generating savings for NRG customers.

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Leap together with NRG’s automated real-time economic dispatch program will use flexible, curtailable customer load to increase grid resiliency and mitigate customers’ exposure to volatile wholesale electricity prices. Leap’s partnerships with technology companies in the state — including GridPoint — help increase grid resiliency and provide real-time flexibility to retailers, which in turn reduces the cost and risk to serve their customers.

“Retail customers are using grid-connected distributed energy technologies at ever-increasing rates,” said Jaden Crawford, Director of Policy at Leap. “These technologies are installed for many reasons; from improving comfort, to charging electric vehicles, to managing building energy use. While performing their primary function, these technologies can also be invaluable and flexible resources for balancing the grid and managing retailers’ exposure to price volatility. Our program with NRG does exactly that, and in return, participating NRG customers receive an additional value stream for further optimizing the technologies they’re already using.”

Leap’s platform allows partners to use distributed assets, including/such as smart thermostats, battery storage, EV chargers and more, to respond to wholesale energy market pricing signals, unlocking new revenue streams for asset owners and mitigating NRG’s exposure to high prices. Leap’s universal API energy market access platform features end-to-end automation so dispatches require no customer action, minimizing customer impact while maximizing customer benefit.

“We recognize the growing importance of strategic load management in our increasingly electrified and renewable world,” said Scott Hart, Head of Sales for North America NRG Business. “Together with Leap, we look forward to providing customers with even more control and flexibility over their energy profile.”

About Leap

Leap is the leading global platform for generating new value from grid-connected resources and devices through integration with energy markets. Leap does all of the heavy lifting, seamlessly connecting technology partners to high-value revenue streams and providing a simplified, automated access point for market participation with batteries, electric vehicle charging, smart thermostats, HVAC systems, industrial facilities, and other flexible assets. By making it easy for new distributed resources to participate in energy markets, Leap lays the groundwork for virtual power plants (VPP). Leap empowers its partners to provide resilient, zero-carbon capacity to the grid while strengthening engagement with their customers through new value streams.

About NRG

At NRG, we’re bringing the power of energy to people and organizations by putting customers at the center of everything we do. We generate electricity and provide energy solutions and natural gas to millions of customers through our diverse portfolio of retail brands. A Fortune 500 company, operating in the United States and Canada, NRG delivers innovative solutions while advocating for competitive energy markets and customer choice, working toward a sustainable energy future. More information is available at nrg.com. Connect with NRG on Facebook, LinkedIn, and follow us on Twitter @nrgenergy.

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