Last week, we introduced the Bring Your Own Distributed Capacity (BYODC) Network, an effort to bring together the people, technology and resources needed to turn growing data center demand into an opportunity for the communities hosting it.
There’s a lot of conversation around BYODC right now. Some of it is substantive. Some of it is still taking shape.
The truth is, no one has figured out the whole model yet. It is also likely to look different depending on local needs and circumstances.
And that’s exactly why we think this is the right time to bring people together.
Our focus is one specific piece of the puzzle: how residential and small commercial distributed energy can play a meaningful role in data center growth, and how more of the benefit can stay in the communities where that growth happens.
We believe the next few years represent a major opportunity for distributed energy. Data centers need capacity. Hyperscalers have capital. Communities need lower energy costs, greater resilience and investment in local infrastructure.
The question is how we connect those things.
What could that actually look like?
Imagine a hyperscaler wants to build a data center in a community and needs 100 MW of available capacity.
At the same time, residents are concerned about rising energy costs, pressure on local infrastructure and the impact of a major new load on the grid.
Now imagine part of that investment was used to fund solar and batteries in surrounding homes, apartment buildings and small businesses.
Those batteries may or may not solve the entire 100 MW capacity requirement.
But they could provide flexible capacity while creating tangible local benefits: lower energy costs through energy efficiency, self-generation, and peak management, backup power during outages, greater resilience against disasters, and new jobs with local businesses installing and maintaining those systems.
And batteries are only one example. Smart thermostats, EV charging, electrification, energy efficiency and other distributed resources can all become part of the equation.
That’s the opportunity we want to explore.
So, where do we start?
By getting the right people around the same table.
We’re looking for action-oriented TPOs, IPPs, multi-tenant developers, DER OEMs, asset owners, financiers, hyperscalers and other large load developers, utility customer program managers, utility planning experts, transmission and distribution operators, DER aggregators and electricity policy experts.
People with assets. People with technology. People with capital. People with ideas.
The goal is to understand what communities need, what distributed resources can realistically provide and what it would take to turn those ideas into programs hyperscalers, utilities and aggregators can actually deploy.
Derapi’s role is to help connect those pieces, linking distributed energy devices and fleets with the VPP and BYODC programs that can put them to work.
Why join?
Because this model is still being shaped.
The organizations involved now have an opportunity to help determine how distributed capacity gets deployed, funded and scaled – and how communities participate in the value it creates.
Our first virtual BYODC Network session will take place in November 2026 to share perspectives, align on priorities and start identifying practical opportunities to pursue together.
If you have something to bring to the conversation, we want you in the room. Complete the form below to get started.
