Agent-Based Integration of Complex and Heterogeneous Distributed Energy Resources in Virtual Power Plants

This article presents the concepts of the microgrid and the virtual power plant (VPP) as vehicles to facilitate cost-efficient integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) into the existing power system. These concepts were designed to enhance the system value and the controllability of DER and to provide frameworks for the development of interfaces among energy and ancillary service resources, system operators, and energy market participants. Through aggregation, DER access to energy markets is facilitated, and DER-based system support and ancillary services can be provided. By enabling this additional functionality, it is envisaged that system performance measured in the form of energy efficiency, power quality, security, and economic operation can be improved. In this paper, the technical and commercial functionality facilitated through the microgrid and VPP concepts is described. The paper concludes with case studies demonstrating the application of the concepts on a test system.

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Providing Flexibility in Distribution Systems by Electric Vehicles and Distributed Energy Resources in the Context of Technical Virtual Power Plants

10.1109/eeeic/icpseurope51590.2021.9584698 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Matthew Gough ◽

Sergio F. Santos ◽

Pedro M. C. Pereira ◽

Juan M. Home-Ortiz ◽

Rui Castro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electric Vehicles ◽

Power Plants ◽

Distribution Systems ◽

Energy Resources ◽

Distributed Energy Resources ◽

Virtual Power ◽

Distributed Energy ◽

Virtual Power Plants

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A Virtual Power Plant Solution for Aggregating Photovoltaic Systems and Other Distributed Energy Resources for Northern European Primary Frequency Reserves

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14051242 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (5) ◽

pp. 1242

Author(s):

Rakshith Subramanya ◽

Matti Yli-Ojanperä ◽

Seppo Sierla ◽

Taneli Hölttä ◽

Jori Valtakari ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Power Plant ◽

Power Plants ◽

Energy Resources ◽

Distributed Energy Resources ◽

Photovoltaic Systems ◽

Virtual Power ◽

Distributed Energy ◽

Virtual Power Plant ◽

Virtual Power Plants ◽

Primary Frequency

Primary frequency reserves in Northern Europe have traditionally been provided with hydro plants and fossil fuel-burning spinning reserves. Recently, smart distributed energy resources have been equipped with functionality needed to participate on frequency reserves. Key categories of such resources include photovoltaic systems, batteries, and smart loads. Most of these resources are small and cannot provide the minimum controllable power required to participate on frequency reserves. Thus, virtual power plants have been used to aggregate the resources and trade them on the frequency reserves markets. The information technology aspects of virtual power plants are proprietary and many of the details have not been made public. The first contribution of this article is to propose a generic data model and application programming interface for a virtual power plant with the above-mentioned capabilities. The second contribution is to use the application programming interface to cope with the unpredictability of the frequency reserve capacity that the photovoltaic systems and other distributed energy resources are able to provide to the frequency reserves markets in the upcoming bidding period. The contributions are demonstrated with an operational virtual power plant installation at a Northern European shopping center, aggregating photovoltaic Primary Frequency Reserves resources.

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