Virtual power plants.

Virtual Power Plants are ready to revolutionise the way we generate, distribute and consume electricity but challenges remain, says GridBeyond’s latest white paper.

Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) have significant potential to enhance grid stability and reliability. By integrating various renewable energy sources, they can effectively balance electricity supply and demand in real time. But to access the full benefits of VPPs, there remains a need to understand and communicate VPP benefits, advance best practices, and shift policy and regulation to put VPPs on a level playing field with traditional grid investments says their White Paper.

In addition the complex coordination and control mechanisms required to manage diverse distributed energy resources pose engineering and operational challenges. But the use of AI and robotic trading in VPP operation can help mitigate risks. The next few years are a critical window for VPP market development. Coordinated and collective action over this time can set the VPP market on a path to delivering long term benefits.

“To reach net zero, distributed flexibility is not optional […] Flexibility is the primary tool at our disposal for reshaping the patterns of demand and generation to accommodate clean energy sources," according to GridBeyond Chief Product Officer and President North America Sean McEvoy. "By enabling flexible demand, we can optimize the utilization of renewable energy, accommodate a larger share of their output, and ultimately reduce reliance on gas during periods of low renewable generation. This approach is crucial for ensuring the resilience of our energy supply while moving towards a clean energy future and VPP’s will play an invaluable role in the energy system: offering distributed flexibility to balance energy demand and generation and helping keep energy affordable.”

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