Virtual power plant (VPP) platform profile
Leap: market access for device companies
How Leap connects more than 100 device and energy companies to wholesale markets and utility programs, and how it shaped California battery exports.
VPP Economics has no affiliation with, sponsorship from, or endorsement by any utility, aggregator, platform, or device maker named here.
The short answer
- Leap is the market access layer behind other companies’ brands. Device and energy companies send it their customers’ flexibility; Leap enrolls the meters, bids into wholesale markets and utility programs, settles with the grid and pays the partner (Leap).
- It is built around partners, not households. Leap reports more than 100 technology partners and over 400,000 connected sites and devices, with 367 MW of nominated capacity in October 2025, double the year before (Leap).
- It charges only when partners earn. No upfront fees; Leap takes a performance-based share of grid revenue (Leap).
- It helped shape California battery exports. Leap proposed the payment option that became Option 3 of California’s Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS) program, which pays batteries for exporting (Leap).
Where Leap fits
Highlighted boxes are the roles this company plays; the green bar shows where its programs sit from demand response to an orchestrated VPP.
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How Leap works
Partners include battery, EV charger, thermostat, water heater and building controls companies such as Sunrun, Stem, SolarEdge, Generac and EnergyHub (Leap). Each partner connects through one API. Leap evaluates the load, sizes bids, bids automatically into day-ahead and real-time programs, sends dispatch signals and settles with the grid (Leap). The partner then decides how to share the payment with its own customers, which is why households usually see the partner’s app, not Leap.
Markets include California (capacity, CAISO energy markets and emergency programs), Texas (including ERCOT’s Emergency Response Service), New York, New England and PJM (Leap; Leap). Enel North America has also opened three utility programs it manages in Washington, Arizona and the Tennessee Valley to Leap’s commercial partners (Enel).
Leap’s reported capacity measures
Megawatts (MW). Leap has reported three different measures over time; they are not comparable
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California: paying batteries to export
Leap proposed reforms to DSGS soon after the California Energy Commission created it; the commission adopted a version as Option 3, which pays batteries for exporting, and Leap was among the first to run it at scale in 2023. In a two-hour July 2025 test, batteries in Option 3, including Leap’s, delivered more than 500 MW at the system peak, and Leap says export payments unlock two to three times more capacity per battery (Leap).
Leap is now asking the California grid operator to allow device-level measurement and battery exports in the wholesale market, estimating more than 200 MW of extra capacity from its partners alone (Leap via CAISO).
What it means for program design
Many brands, one counterparty
A market access platform lets dozens of device companies join a program through one registered participant.
Export rules change capacity
Counting battery exports, not just load reduction, can multiply the capacity each enrolled battery provides.
Outsource the market work
Leap handles registration, bidding and settlement; the partner keeps the customer relationship and sets the household’s share.
Method and caveats
Figures are company-reported, checked October 15, 2026. Leap’s revenue share is not public. The 500 MW DSGS test total covers all Option 3 providers, not Leap alone.