From the report:<p>> "DOE uses a broad definition of VPPs (virtual power plants) that
includes a variety of mechanisms for aggregating and orchestrating DERs (distributed energy resources)"<p>> "Just as different types of traditional power plants contribute to the grid in different ways (e.g., nuclear plants provide baseload generation, and wind farms provide variable generation), so too do different configurations of VPPs."<p>Historically grid structure in the USA was broken down into baseload, load-following and peaker plants, a choice made based on the technological limitations of the power sources (coal and nuclear power could not be rapidly ramped up and down. so they were assigned baseload status, while hydro and natural gas could).<p>That all fails when you put large amounts of solar and wind on the grid, e.g. a large solar PV system might generate 200% of demand at noon, (so you divert half or more to storage for use at night). Fundamentally this means scrapping the whole concept of baseload generation, and instead focusing on storage and distribution of energy from highly variable renewable sources - which is why nuclear is difficult to integrate smoothly with renewables, it's not very flexible. However, DOE is a very pro-nuclear agency, hence their reluctance to abandon the baseload concept.<p>I suppose VPPs are a useful abstraction for managing a wide variety of resources in one geographical area, but the reality is that replacing fossil fuels with electricity across the board will require truly massive grid infrastructure investments. This will require either steep increases in energy bills for consumers, or large tax-financed government subsidies of grid infrastructure, and possibly even nationalization of the grid.