Respond quickly and cost-effectively to rapidly changing load requirements
A Virtual Power Plant (VPP) collects / pools units under a central control system. Almost all power generation and storage technologies can be part of a VPP including biogas, biomass, combined heat and power (CHP), wind, solar, hydro, diesel and fossil-fired plants.
Energy storage facilities can also be incorporated into a VPP. Any type of energy storage technology can be applied, including batteries, thermal storage, compressed air or pumped storage.
Typically, VPPs pool production from hundreds of small and medium renewable energy plants into a single entity that has the large scale and flexibility to participate in the electricity market. Broadly speaking, a VPP has three goals: