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Council urges King County to study virtual power plants and a 1‑MW transfer‑station solar array
Summary
The motion calls for a Vashon Maury battery energy storage siting analysis and assesses installation of a 1‑megawatt solar array at the Vashon transfer station; speakers argued such measures support resilience and lower costs.
As part of the package the council called on King County to include "virtual power plants" (VPPs) and local battery siting in the county climate plan. The proposed language describes VPPs as "collections of small power resources, such as solar collectors, batteries, backup generators, [and] interruptible loads" that can be aggregated for reliable grid power at lower cost.
Speakers argued that a local VPP, combined with a 1‑megawatt solar array at the transfer station and distributed batteries, could improve resilience during outages and reduce the need for remote generation. "A virtual power plant is basically the coordination of small distributed power systems to offer power suppliers... coordinated, through communication in order to act as a as an aggregated large power supply," one presenter explained. The council asked King County to study siting options and consider the landfill/transfer station as viable solar sites and to pursue further technical conversations with county staff on implementation details.
