Bill 145: Virtual Power Plant Act

This bill primarily affects energy technology companies, utility aggregators, and renewable energy operators doing business in Nova Scotia who coordinate or plan to coordinate distributed energy resources — think a company that signs up homeowners or small businesses with rooftop solar or home batteries and bundles their capacity to sell into the grid. Anyone running one of these virtual power plant operations needs to obtain a licence from the Nova Scotia Energy Board before operating. Businesses in this space will need to put formal contracts in place with every customer they aggregate, covering compensation, data privacy, and performance terms. Electricity distributors and grid operators are also touched, as they'll need to coordinate with licensed virtual power plants and comply with updated market rules designed to remove barriers to participation.