Google's $12 Million BYOC Deal Revolutionizes Corporate Energy Procurement

Three years ago, a 100 MW data center faced a PJM capacity obligation of about $1.05 million per year. However, this obligation has suddenly increased to $12.2 million annually for that same data center and $121.7 million for a 1 GW hyperscaler deployment. This drastic change did not occur gradually but rather across three consecutive auction cycles in which PJM's Base Residual Auction (BRA) cleared at or near the FERC-approved price cap.

The 2027/28 delivery year price of $333.44 per megawatt-day (MW-day) is significantly higher than the previous years, making it an imperative for hyperscalers to self-procure wholesale grid capacity through distributed energy resources (DERs). A deal between Google and Voltus in June 2026 marked a significant turning point in this shift. The agreement involved a 100 MW, three-year Bring Your Own Capacity (BYOC) contract that enabled Google to fund a DER fleet of residential and commercial sites across PJM's footprint.

Voltus aggregated and dispatched the fleet, providing accredited capacity that flowed directly to Dominion Energy, satisfying Google's capacity obligation through a private bilateral contract. This deal deviated from the traditional utility VPP program model, where utilities contracted with aggregators to manage customer demand in response to peak events.