Google's Nest Renew and OhmConnect Combine to Form Renew Home, the Nation's Largest Residential Virtual Power Plant

Partners with Utilities across the US and Integrated with Google Home, LG, Rheem, and others to Support the Grid and Reduce Residential Utility Bills

OAKLAND, Calif., May 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Renew Home, North America's largest residential virtual power plant (VPP), has launched out of the combination of Google's Nest Renew service and OhmConnect. The new company brings together millions of customers across the nation, helping to stabilize the grid and to reduce home energy costs.

Renew already controls nearly 3GW of electrical energy use, and is planning to expand to 50GW by 2030 – approximately 25% of the total VPP growth recently projected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). DOE projects that by tripling the scale of VPPs, we could meet 10-20% of peak electricity demand by 2030 – which would avoid $10 billion in grid costs.

Backed by a $100M investment from majority owner Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP), Renew Home will transform residential energy by enabling millions of homes across the country to collectively reduce and shift their energy use.

"The marriage of Nest's innovative approach to managing energy use in the home with OhmConnect's customer-focused grid services platform will be transformational," said Renew Home CEO Ben Brown. "With our industry-leading partners, Renew Home will be able to coordinate the home energy use of millions of customers to help catapult us into a 100% clean energy future."

Renew Home is already working with the Google Home APIs as a platform provider of integrations to control devices and energy use in millions of homes. Renew Home also integrates with dozens of additional devices and appliances in the home - including LG, Honeywell, SunPower, Sense, and others - and will support demand response and VPP programs with more than 100 utilities.

"This is a pivotal moment for virtual power plants," said Alan Machuga, CTO of Rheem. "We are excited to partner with Renew Home to help customers save money and energy – while supporting the grid. As a leading manufacturer of HVAC and Water Heating products, Rheem uniquely brings both potential for energy savings and energy storage, to which water heaters play a critical role."

According to the DOE, VPPs are aggregations of distributed energy resources such as rooftop solar with behind-the-meter batteries, electric vehicles and chargers, electric water heaters, smart buildings and their controls, and flexible commercial and industrial loads that can balance electricity demand and supply and provide utility-scale and utility-grade grid services like a traditional power plant.

About Renew Home

Renew Home, North America's largest residential virtual power plant, revolutionizes residential energy management by enabling residents to lower utility bills while stabilizing the energy grid. By harnessing energy reduction from millions of homes into a cohesive virtual power plant, Renew Home's impact on the grid is transformational. Collaborating with industry leaders such as Google Nest, Rheem, LG, Honeywell, SunPower, and Sense along with over 100 utility partnerships, Renew Home is spearheading the residential clean energy movement. Renew Home is a Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP) company.

More information, visit RenewHome.com; Follow on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

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SOURCE Renew Home