A virtual power plant is a combination of decentralized units that are coordinated via a common control system. The units can be electricity producers such as biogas, wind power, photovoltaic, cogeneration or hydroelectric power plants, flexible consumers, electricity storage and power-to-X plants. The purpose of the virtual power plant is the joint marketing of electricity and flexibility from the swarm of aggregated plants. By orchestrating the various plants, synergy effects can be used and market entry barriers can be overcome.
The Beginnings of Virtual Power Plants
A virtual power plant (VPP) is generally understood to mean the aggregation of decentralized producers and consumers using a central control system that can control all systems in real time. The idea of a virtual power plant can be traced back to the beginning of the liberalization of the electricity market at the beginning of the 1990s. The concept usa consumer email list of the virtual power plant, also known as a combined power plant or swarm power plant, was mainly treated theoretically before the turn of the millennium. With increasing computing capacity, faster communication channels and the market ramp-up of decentralized generation plants from renewable energies, the way was paved for the commercial use of virtual power plants.
Furthermore, the necessary legal framework was created by the legislature, which allows virtual power plants to participate in control power and electricity markets. In recent years, a large number of VPP operators have emerged and the resulting competition between providers is giving rise to innovations.
New markets, new opportunities
Established virtual power plants generally do not integrate all types and sizes of power plants. Due to the falling costs of connecting the power plants to the control system, it is becoming increasingly possible to integrate small and very small plants. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of plants will no longer receive EEG funding in the coming years, so that the so-called post-EEG plants will either be demolished or can continue to operate through direct marketing by a virtual power plant.