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New California laws boost VPP’s. What’s a VPP and why every American needs one to save money on electricity bills

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
media@sparkz.energy
Sacramento, CA-Oct. 1, 2026
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law two Virtual Power Plant bills, SB913 and SB905 that would help business owners and homeowners save on electricity bills by using stored energy from batteries and other energy sources, such as solar, instead of utilities. Californians pay some of the most expensive electricity rates in the country.
“Virtual Power Plants are batteries deployed at homes and small businesses. These batteries are charged using the excess energy, currently not being used by homeowners. This energy can be provided to utilities, who can aggregate it and provide reliable power to hyperscalers during high peak times,” said CEO and Founder of Sparkz, Dr. Sanjiv Malhotra.
Malhotra describes how neighborhoods can be a VPP and be rewarded for saving energy.
 “This will incentivize and reward the home and business owners,” He said.
The two new California laws make it easier to use customer-owned batteries and other distributed energy resources as a Virtual Power Plant to support the grid and help control electricity costs.
This is the Sparkz way.
The only company succeeding in establishing the LFP battery ecosystem in the US, resulting in battery energy storage systems. Sparkz uses high-performance material made from abundant American materials, such as lithium, iron, phosphate, Cells and the complete Battery system. All 100% made in the USA.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Michelle Bandur, Sparkz VP of Marketing and Communications
michelle@sparkz.energy

Founder & CEO

Dr. Sanjiv Malhotra

Dr. Sanjiv Malhotra is the founder and CEO of Sparkz—the battery start-up reinventing the energy supply chain.

 

Malhotra has been a leader in the energy sector for nearly three decades as a founder, investor and executive. Most recently, he served as the inaugural director for the Energy Investor Center at the U.S Department of Energy (DOE), serving under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

 

At DOE, Malhotra led the Obama Administration’s initiative to boost public-private partnerships to accelerate the commercialization of technologies developed in national research centers like Oak Ridge National Labs.

 

Malhotra was recruited to the Department of Energy after a successful exit of Oorja Protonics—the world leader in methanol fuel cells—which he founded and led as CEO for 10 years. Oorja raised $50 Million in equity financing from leading VCs such as Sequoia, DAG Ventures, Artis Capital and others during his tenure. He boosted Oorja’s revenue and profitability growth, while expanding operations globally in Japan, China, South Africa, Mexico, and India.

 

Oorja was acquired in 2014 by the Private Equity firm MinXing Growth Fund.

 

As an investor and consultant, Malhotra has worked at leading venture capital firms, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers as an advisor on clean energy and advanced materials.

 

Earlier in his career, Malhotra led the engineering and product development team at H Power, a pioneer in hydrogen fuel cells. As part of the management team, he managed the successful IPO, which raised more than $100 million in August 2000.

 

He began his career as a post-doctoral fellow at the renowned Lawrence Berkeley National Labs on electrochemical storage systems. Dr. Malhotra has authored seven patents and more than 40 publications in various fields of energy storage technology and materials. He holds a PhD in chemical engineering and an M.B.A from University of Iowa.