LANSING, Mich. (Dec. 9, 2025) — Today, Sens. Sue Shink (D-Northfield Twp.) and Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) introduced legislation to use virtual power plants to improve efficiency and grid reliability.
“We can’t meet our state’s future energy needs with 20th-century infrastructure,” said Sen. Shink. “This legislation will help us create the flexibility and reliability to rise to modern energy challenges.”
Senate Bill 731 would create definitions needed to make virtual power plants work under Michigan law. Senate Bill 732 would direct the Michigan Public Service Commission to establish regulations requiring utilities to include virtual power plants in their plans for distribution and transmission. The virtual power plant aggregators and the owners of individual behind-the-meter resources would be compensated for grid services that increase grid resilience and reliability or provide net savings to ratepayers.
“We urgently need to improve electrical reliability and transition away from energy sources that are driving climate change,” said Sen. Irwin. “We already have resources we can use for this, but they can’t be coordinated in an organized way without the framework this legislation will provide.”
Virtual power plants aggregate existing distributed energy resources, including not just distributed generation but also storage and demand response, to meet fluctuations in electrical demand. They deploy resources and downregulate demand as needed, avoiding the need for costly “peaker plants” to meet demand spikes. When more electricity is needed, virtual power plants coordinate diverse resources in decentralized locations by bringing distributed generation online, pulling stored energy from batteries or vehicles, and stepping down high-demand uses. Virtual power plants also enable cleaner sources of electrical generation by evening out fluctuations in supply from solar or wind.
“Virtual power plants can prevent price spikes and power outages, especially as extreme weather and data centers put more strain on our electrical grid,” said Justin Carpenter, Policy Director for the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council. “We can’t afford not to use existing resources to their fullest potential to ensure our communities benefit from lower costs, greater reliability, and a more resilient energy future.”