{"id":227659,"date":"2026-03-10T20:42:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T20:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/10\/google-and-tesla-think-were-managing-the-electrical-grid-all-wrong-techcrunch\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T20:42:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T20:42:44","slug":"google-and-tesla-think-were-managing-the-electrical-grid-all-wrong-techcrunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/10\/google-and-tesla-think-were-managing-the-electrical-grid-all-wrong-techcrunch\/","title":{"rendered":"Google and Tesla think we\u2019re managing the electrical grid all wrong | TechCrunch"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Google, Tesla, and data center developer Verrus are among a group of companies arguing that the electrical grid is being underutilized and they want everyone \u2014 especially politicians \u2014 to know about it.<\/p>\n

The three companies along with HVAC giant Carrier, virtual power plant company Renew Home, distributed energy resource developer Sparkfund, and smart electrical panel startup Span founded a new group called Utilize to get that message across. The group, which launched Tuesday<\/a>, is advocating to change the way the grid is built and used. The group points out, correctly, that the grid is designed for brief bursts of high demand; most of the time there\u2019s lots of capacity that goes unused.<\/p>\n

Utilize thinks that should change. The group argues that smarter ways to use that capacity already exist. Utilize name-checks a number of those solutions, including battery storage, demand response, and virtual power plants, all of which have emerged en masse<\/em> over the last decade, but remain under utilized. (Oh, that\u2019s where the name comes from.)<\/p>\n

In many cases, those new technologies are used to improve the grid\u2019s resilience. Take Texas\u2019 grid, for example, which has fared better during recent cold snaps following an increase in battery storage in the state. Still, many regulators and politicians remain wary of these new technologies, opting instead to stick with familiar options like centralized fossil fuel power plants.<\/p>\n

Utilize says it will \u201cadvocate for policies\u201d that encourage more widespread adoption of the new technologies, which also benefit those involved.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each member occupies a niche piece of the grid. On the sell side, Tesla sells batteries and solar panels, Span sells an electrical panel that can react to changing loads, Carrier makes heat pumps, and Sparkfund and Renew Home build and aggregate distributed energy resources. On the buy side, Google and Verrus have enormous power needs to keep their servers humming.<\/p>\n

The organization calls itself a \u201ccoalition,\u201d which is pretty squishy language. Utilize already touts one legislative win, saying that \u201csome members of Utilize\u201d backed a bill in Virginia that would require utilities to quantify and disclose how the grid is being used.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

That wording suggests that while Utilize might be pushing for policy changes, it probably isn\u2019t lobbying directly, at least yet. TechCrunch did not receive a reply to inquiries sent to Utilize and the Commonwealth of Virginia regarding the organization\u2019s status as a lobbyist.<\/p>\n

Advocacy organizations are no stranger to the utility industry, but the combination of new technology paired with buy- and sell-side companies makes Utilize something different. Changing the way the grid is regulated is a long game, but if they don\u2019t start now, it\u2019ll be too late.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Google, Tesla, and data center developer Verrus are among a group of companies arguing that the electrical grid is being underutilized and they want everyone \u2014 especially politicians \u2014 to know about it. The three companies along with HVAC giant Carrier, virtual power plant company Renew Home, distributed energy resource developer Sparkfund, and smart electrical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":227660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-227659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}