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Even Prada is getting in on the members-only club craze.

Even Prada is getting in on the members-only club craze.

"Bring Your Own Capacity" - Google And Voltus To Deploy Virtual Power Plant 

Google signed a three-year Bring Your Own Capacity (BYOC) agreement with Voltus for up to 100 MW of accredited distributed capacity in the PJM Interconnection. Voltus will aggregate batteries, smart thermostats, electric vehicles, and other flexible assets from homes and businesses into a Google-funded Virtual Power Plant (VPP). 

When the grid needs relief, the software dispatches those resources in concert. Participants get paid, and Google gets capacity without waiting for traditional interconnection queues.

A VPP is not a physical plant at all. It is coordinated software that turns thousands of small, customer-sited resources into something that behaves like dispatchable generation. Distributed energy resources (DERs) such as solar panels, batteries, smart thermostats, and flexible loads already sitting on the grid become a decentralized fleet. 

Instead of building another transmission line or expensive peaker plant that sits idle most of the year, the VPP squeezes more value out of what already exists. Brattle Group analysis suggests better utilization of existing infrastructure could save U.S. consumers over $100 billion this decade.

Voltus has positioned itself as the leading operator in this space. The company manages more than 7.5 GW of DERs across all nine North American wholesale markets and launched its BYOC offering specifically to help large loads shortcut interconnection delays. Google is the first named hyperscaler customer. The deal runs in PJM, the largest U.S. grid operator and one already feeling the strain of AI-driven load growth.

This move fits the broader pattern of Google methodically assembling exposure to nearly every generation and flexibility technology currently in play. Considering the alternative is to just sit back and watch grids like PJM start to go black in the years ahead...

On the firm, always-on side, the company struck a deal with NextEra to restart the 615 MW Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa. Google is also looking to offtake power from Kairos' molten salt reactors in Tennessee. 

For next-generation geothermal, Google has a long-running partnership with Fervo Energy. The Nevada pilot is already feeding carbon-free power to Google data centers, and the companies expanded via a Clean Transition Tariff structure with NV Energy for an additional 115 MW. Google also holds PPAs with Ormat under the same tariff framework.

On the renewables and storage front, Alphabet closed its $4.75 billion acquisition of Intersect Power earlier this year. Intersect develops co-located data center and energy infrastructure, including large-scale solar and battery storage projects. 

Google has maintained a steady drumbeat of wind and solar PPAs for years; the Intersect deal accelerates co-location and gives the company more direct control over project development timelines.

Long-duration batteries even caught Google's interest with the Form Energy deal for iron-air technology and the batteries that will likely participate in the new Voltus VPP. 

The through-line is speed. PJM and other grids are not adding transmission and firm generation fast enough to match announced data center builds. Hyperscalers have responded with every available lever: restarting nuclear, advancing geothermal, buying developers outright, and now directly funding distributed capacity. 
 

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/04/2026 - 15:00

A reunion might be in the cards in Kansas City.

A graduation speech at Clayton High School went viral after a principal cut off a valedictorian who mentioned ICE and Palestine. The student says her diploma has not been released.

The couple got together last year after Perry broke off her engagement to Orlando Bloom, with whom she shares 5-year-old daughter Daisy Dove.

The couple got together last year after Perry broke off her engagement to Orlando Bloom, with whom she shares 5-year-old daughter Daisy Dove.

Lights Out For Sleep Number, Shares Crash On Potential Bankruptcy Filing

Sleep Number Corporation shares crashed after multiple outlets, including The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, reported that the mattress and bedding retailer is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

WSJ said that Sleep Number is "expected to use the Chapter 11 process to restructure its balance sheet while continuing operations. The reorganization could also include a potential sale of the business."

As of late 2024, Sleep Number had 640 retail stores across the US, with a footprint actively shrinking in recent years.

The company has been hit hard by a confluence of factors - think higher interest rates have reduced demand for big-ticket items, like a $5,000 bed, industry pressure, and tariffs. Plus, let's not forget that all the demand was pulled forward during the easy-money bubble of the Covid era.

Revenue fell 16% in 2025 to $1.4 billion ...

... while the stock has plunged about 97% over the past four months to roughly 32 cents.

WSJ noted that Sleep Number recently hired Guggenheim Securities to evaluate opportunities to strengthen its balance sheet and improve liquidity. The struggling retailer has secured $55 million in additional liquidity through a new $25 million term loan and $30 million in added flexibility from existing lenders.

Our read-through: another consumer discretionary story has collapsed, with demand for big-ticket home goods continuing to sink under elevated interest rates and a tapped-out consumer nearing the end of the tax-refund sugar high.

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/04/2026 - 14:40

"It's not going to be an open-until-2 a.m. rager," Este owner Marley Dominguez exclusively told The Post of the controversy around his not-yet-open spot.

The former couple got married in February 2025 -- and tied the knot again on "Mama June: Family Crisis" in October of that same year.

The former couple got married in February 2025 -- and tied the knot again on "Mama June: Family Crisis" in October of that same year.

Gotham has twice won the NWSL championship (2023, 2025) on Averbuch West's watch, and last year they won the inaugural CONCACAF W Champions Cup. 

Get ready to laugh with this Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein rom-com.

The actions by federal and state prosecutors are targeting as much as $50 million in defrauded taxpayer money, Blanche noted.

"We wish the votes were counted faster, too," Newsom's press office said.

The Jalen Brunson-Spurs fan mysery continues, a new video has attempted to make sense of the Game 1 incident.

The revelations sparked immediate outrage among diners who felt deceived, blasting the upscale restaurant for betraying customer trust and acting unlawfully and unethically.

The shelter, dubbed Fort, was inspired by the horrifying night the Atlas Fire tore through Napa County in October 2017.

A visibly distraught Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was spotted sporting a mysterious, large red bruise on his face while being driven through England, according to reports.

One week from the opening match of the 2026 World Cup, FIFA has banned fans from bringing refillable plastic water bottles into stadiums.