A Virtual Power Plant (VPP) is the aggregation of supply and/or demand response from Distributed Energy Resources (DER) such as batteries and smart appliances to participate in one or more markets. VPPs have been lauded as a major part of the future energy mix in the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM). When the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) announced its VPP demonstrations project in 2019, AEMO predicted there could be 700MW of VPPs by 2022.
The VPP trials discussed in this report “What Is the State of Virtual Power Plants in Australia?” authored by Gabrielle Kuiper, DER Specialist and Guest Contributor, The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) show that aggregated DER can provide generation, demand response, contingency FCAS and, in some circumstances, network services. Smart retailers, aggregators and others see the opportunities and are setting up systems and business models that will evolve and expand in future.
Access the report here
