Learning from the last grid build-out (and why VPPs are the answer) with Mark Dyson

The grid has been here before. Between 1960 and 2000, US utilities grew demand 4–5x while cutting real electricity prices by 20%, and the lessons from that era are more relevant than ever.

Mark Dyson is Managing Director of Electricity at RMI, where he's spent nearly two decades working on grid modernization, distributed energy resources, and the policy and market design that holds it all together. Before returning to RMI, he led analytics at Ascend Analytics, giving him a rare vantage point across both the technical and market sides of the energy transition.

In this episode, Mark draws on that history to make the case that data center load growth isn't the crisis it's being framed as — it's a solvable problem, and virtual power plants are a big part of the solution. He breaks down why VPPs are 40–60% cheaper than gas peakers or batteries for meeting new peak demand, and what it actually takes to deploy them at scale.

This episode covers:
- The three lessons from last century's grid growth: embrace new technology, invest proactively in infrastructure, and make the most of existing capacity
- Why virtual power plants are the fastest, most affordable tool for meeting data center demand growth
- Why hyperscalers resist flexible load at the project level — and how paying others to curtail resolves that tension
- Navigating permitting headwinds and the post-OBBBA policy environment

If you're working on the energy transition, Mark's perspective on what history can actually teach us about today's challenges is essential listening.

Learn more about RMI here. 

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