CPower Unites Industry at GridFuture 2025 to Tackle Load Growth Through Demand Response

Customer-Powered Grid® Awards Honor Leaders Driving Impact Across Reliability, Flexibility, Technology and Community Progress

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- This week at GridFuture 2025, CPower Energy's annual conference focused on advancements in demand response and distributed energy, key energy stakeholders tackled one of the grid's most pressing challenges: meeting the accelerating demand for electricity.

"Demand for electricity is growing, and rapidly, for the first time in decades. Although analysts disagree on how high demand will rise in the coming years, even the low-end projections are significant. And there is strong consensus that meeting this demand growth with new sources of supply will be a challenge," said Michael D. Smith, CEO, CPower.

"While putting more steel in the ground is often the default answer, building generation is too slow and too costly to address the immediate challenge. This is why demand response is so critical. It's fast, flexible, cost-effective and available to make a difference now," Smith continued.

As the leading virtual power plant (VPP) platform, CPower enables 23,000 customer sites across the U.S. to intelligently strengthen the grid while earning revenue and reducing costs through demand response and energy flexibility programs. Since June 1, CPower and its customers have provided ~34,000 MWh of load relief to meet peak demand during the hottest days of summer, stabilizing the grid when and where dispatchable resources were needed most.

"Meeting growing energy demand from data centers, reindustrialization and economy-wide electrification while protecting the planet requires all tools in the toolbox," said Morgan Scott, vice president, Global Partnerships and Outreach at EPRI. "This includes better utilizing and strengthening existing generation and grid infrastructure, and leveraging emerging technologies while minimizing costs and enhancing system reliability."

Top CPower Customers and Partners Recognized for Contributions to the Grid and Communities

During GridFuture, CPower also announced the winners of its second annual Customer-Powered Grid® Awards, honoring the outstanding contributions of CPower customers and partners strengthening grid reliability, advancing flexible energy solutions, driving technological innovation and making a meaningful impact in their communities.

Flexibility Award: Highland Electric Fleets

Highland Electric Fleets, North America's leading provider of electrification-as-a-service, received the Flexibility Award. Highland led the first use of electric school buses in a commercial vehicle-to-grid (V2G) program and operates the largest electric school bus project in the U.S.

Grid Champion Award: RTX Corp.

RTX Corporation, the world's largest aerospace and defense company, has been awarded the Grid Champion Award for its consistent and long-term performance during demand response events across multiple seasons.

Innovative Solutions Award: 75F

A leader in IoT and AI-driven commercial HVAC automation, 75F sees automation, accessibility and grid integration as the future. Deployed in offices and businesses at scale, 75F's IoT based building management system reduces greenhouse gas emissions while lowering energy costs for tenants and businesses and improving comfort for guests and occupants.

Community Champion Award: Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation (DEMEC)

DEMEC received the Community Champion Award for its commitment to community energy initiatives. Since 2019, DEMEC has partnered with Light Up Navajo to connect many families to electricity.

Additional customers and partners across real estate, industrial manufacturing, digital infrastructure and commercial HVAC automation were also recognized.

"Out of more than 23,000 customer sites evaluated, this year's award winners stood out for their consistent contributions to grid reliability and community impact. Their flexible assets and participation reflect the critical role our customers play in strengthening the grid and supporting communities nationwide, as well as the diversity of organizations CPower is proud to serve," Smith said. 

For more information about CPower and its customers, visit cpowerenergy.com.

About CPower
CPower Energy is a leading Virtual Power Plant platform, monetizing the value of customer-sited energy to intelligently strengthen the grid. For over a decade, we've made turning flexible energy into revenue simple for partners and large energy users such as businesses, manufacturers, public institutions and healthcare organizations, delivering over $1.2 billion from demand response and energy flexibility programs to customers since 2015. With 6.7 GW of customer capacity across more than 23,000 sites, we're empowering energy users across North America, enabling them to benefit from an innovative energy economy.

SOURCE CPower Energy