<
https://onestepoffthegrid.com.au/groundbreaking-trial-shows-how-vpps-can-pay-for-home-batteries-slash-costs-on-the-grid/>
"Network company Western Power says virtual power plants have “huge potential”
to solve some of the grid’s thorniest problems, including doing away with the
emergency solar switch-off button, and could remove the need for subsidies by
helping batteries pay for themselves.
The observations have been gleaned from Western Australia’s Project Symphony –
a unique two-year trial launched back in 2021 to demonstrate how virtual power
plants, or VPPs, can support power systems and reward customers.
A collaboration between Synergy, Western Power, and the Australian Energy
Market Operator with support and oversight from Energy Policy WA, the pilot was
centred in the Perth region of Southern River, where more than 50% of
households have rooftop solar.
Overall, 514 customers and 911 assets were recruited to the trial across four
main asset types – solar PV, battery storage, air conditioning and hot water
systems.
Technically speaking, the trial aimed to test the use of a VPP in four
“must-have” scenarios: The supply of energy into the wholesale market; the
provision of network support services; the ability to constrain rooftop solar
output to zero, and; contingency raise, which is a response to help restore a
deviation in frequency to normal levels.
The findings of the project, which received $8 million through the Australian
Renewable Energy Agency’s Advancing Renewables Program, were published by Arena
earlier this month in a more than 180-page report.
According to the report, the trial found VPPs to be technically feasible in all
four scenarios, with some more immediately successful than others – and all
with kinks that need to be ironed out for VPPs to be operated successfully at
scale.
More broadly, the report confirms what we already know, if only conceptually:
That orchestrating DER can substantially reduce system costs and help alleviate
local network constraints, ultimately allowing reduced costs to be passed
through to end-use customers."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
