A virtual power plant is not a utility’s ‘brick and mortar’ coal, or gas power station with countless miles of pipes. It is not even one of those utility-scale battery, solar, and wind arrays coming on line these days. Virtual power plant technology is a loose association of private electricity producers, battery storage, and consumers. In other words, independent entities operating outside the utility, but with capacity to influence electricity supply and demand.
How Virtual Power Plant Technology Became Such a Pressing Issue
Global warming is upon us whatever we regard as the cause. Electricity demand is surging again on the back of new electric cars, data centers and air conditioners. It can take two years to build a new gas-fired power station, and five or more for a nuclear one. Those periods do not include local consent and licensing, which can take years more.
Decentralized, small-scale renewable battery storage and solar can be up and running within months, when on smaller, private sites. This splits capital costs into smaller packages that are easier to fund and manage. The fact that they may also use renewable energy is an added bonus, but outside the scope of this article.
We can only extract energy once from a load of coal, a tank of gas, or a nuclear fuel rod , although we may be able to recycle some of their materials. But batteries, solar panels, and wind towers can generate over and over again, because their energy is renewable. Connect enough of them together and you have virtual power plant technology on tap.
Integrating Virtual Energy Resources in a Utility Grid
Virtual power plants are not massive resources on a single site. By stark contrast, they are small and nimble and decentralized across a wider area. There are several roles that they can play to balance a utility grid, by helping it cope with fluctuating demand.
- They can come on-line and deliver stored energy when demand it high.
- They can go off-line when demand is low, and store energy for later.
Virtual power plants are also more resilient because they comprise many smaller units. This is yet another reason why virtual power plant technology is rapidly becoming a permanent feature on electric utility grids.
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Virtual Power Plants Able to Assist At Peaks
