An island in Denmark built the world’s first virtual power plant. The electricity grid on Bornholm uses smart metering to service the 42,000 residents. This intelligent network can harness the many small sources of electricity generation to account for extra power during peak demand periods.

Bornholm is the largest example of a working virtual power plant. Large companies such as Siemens had experimented with this technology as a way to manage the ebb and flow of electricity among a large campus of buildings.

Danish utility Energinet is overseeing the EcoGrid project. This advancement will allow small producers of power (through solar panels, for example) to really participate in the electrical market in a more substantial way than net metering.

Hat tip: Mike Powers at Seeds brought this to my attention.