The Concept, Project and Current Status of Virtual Power Plant: A Review

Due to technological advancements in recent years, distributed energy resources (DER) applications have become more prevalent in households and businesses, including various renewable energy applications. While the virtual power plant (VPP) can integrate energy storage, flexible loads and DER, etc., it can support the power grid operating stability and security. Therefore, more and more researchers give their attention to VPP and advise on their optimization. This paper states the VPP concept from other researchers’ studies and provides a detailed explanation. Meanwhile, some typical VPP projects worldwide are also presented. In addition, some potential challenges and future development advice in the VPP studies are also presented.