Virtual power plants. Is it possible to manage the sources of "green" energy?

Humanity is increasing its consumption and production of electricity, paying particular attention to renewable or “green” sources. According to the research company REN21, in 2017 the share of renewable energy in world production was 10.4%. Moreover, in advanced countries, this share is higher: in 2017, the EU received 17.5% of energy from renewable sources, and the goal for 2020 is 20%. As the share of renewable energy in the development increases, the significance of the problems associated with them increases. What are these problems, how do they solve virtual power plants, and what is it all about? We are telling.

What is wrong with green energy?

In general, everything is so. On the Enerdata website , you can see data on energy production for 1990-2017 by country - the graphs show that most countries are increasing the share of renewable energy sources. Our future is inevitably connected with alternative energy, and for the most advanced countries and individual industries in them this is already the present. So, the Netherlands Railways since 2017 travel exclusively on electricity from windmills. And in this way they transport about 320 million passengers a year, which is 18.5 times more than the entire population of the country (for comparison: Russian Railways transport about 1 billion passengers a year, that is, 7-8 Russian populations). Another example is Norway: more than 97.8% of the energy produced in this country is generated by alternative sources.


Some European countries have not only reached the targets for increasing the share of electricity from renewable sources, but also exceeded them. The leaders are Sweden, Finland and Latvia. Source: Eurostat

That is, everything seems to be great, but there are still difficulties: for all its advantages, alternative energy cannot provide a constant level of electricity production. Sometimes there is less electricity than consumers need. Sometimes, on the contrary, this is also a problem, since the surplus of electricity needs to be put somewhere. Solar panels work only during the day, their efficiency depends on the time of year and weather conditions. Wind farms depend not only on the presence of wind, but, for example, stop working during the seasonal flight of birds. Tidal power plants do work several hours a day, during the ebbs and flows. This is the main problem and the main difference from nuclear and thermal power plants. And the more generation comes from green sources, the greater the importance of these problems.

What to do with it?

To solve these problems, virtual power plants were invented (wind farm, they are also VPP - Virtual Power Plants). So called hardware and software systems that allow you to manage a huge number of disparate installations for generating energy, as if it were one power plant. Software created using machine learning technologies distributes electricity among consumers and reserves surpluses, using them to compensate for daily downturns. And here the elements of self-learning AI introduced into the code are especially important, which learn to predict production downturns and consumption peaks, optimizing the movement of energy within the system.

Simply put, a virtual power plant is an exchange of sellers and buyers of electricity that balances the supply and demand of energy. As a result, all consumers of electricity use green energy as if it were generated by a classical nuclear power plant or thermal power plant. That is, the electricity in the network is always there and the voltage in the network is constant. And energy producers are guaranteed to sell their products.

A virtual power plant is always an individual project, since the structure of renewable energy sources and their consumers is always unique and depends on the geographic and demographic features of the region. However, in any wind farm there are the following elements:

1. energy sources (renewable and traditional),
2. electricity consumers (business and population),
3. energy storage system (batteries),
4. IoT sensors for collecting information and managing the work of consumers,
5. Power management software.

Virtual power plants can easily scale to global planetary infrastructure, not to mention the needs of any single state. Source: Toshiba

In power systems where electricity is generated by solar and wind power plants and the distribution of energy is carried out without the use of virtual power plants, it is necessary to reserve energy, and at least 13-15% of the generated and reserved energy is not normally used. As a result, generating electricity is less profitable. In systems with virtual power plants, the amount of unnecessary reserves is much less. Ideally, it should generally tend to zero.

Also, software algorithms for wind power plants can reduce energy consumption in the system by minimizing losses in energy transfer and fine work with sensors of the Internet of things. So, with their help it is possible to regulate heating in the winter and air conditioners in the summer, saving energy at achievement of the set temperatures. And you can tie the ventilation of the building to the number of people inside, forcing it to function at maximum only during working hours.

The prospects for the virtual power plant market are visible in financial investments. According to the reportMarkets and Markets, in 2016 the world wind farm market amounted to 193.4 million US dollars, and the forecast until 2021 is 709 million US dollars. In absolute terms, this is still a little, but the dynamics are quite unequivocal, and then, when the technologies roll in, and the Internet of things gets further developed, a breakthrough awaits us.

So far, all major wind farm projects are either being implemented or are already working in test mode. One of the world's first practical examples of the use of wind farms wasPowerShift Atlantic project, implemented in the Canadian province of New Brunswick and the surrounding area in 2010-2015. He combined the power systems of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, consisting of both "fossil" and renewable energy sources. As a result of the launch of the virtual power station, peak loads in the network were almost completely smoothed out.



Natural conditions in southeastern Canada are favorable for the development of alternative energy sources: wind farms and hydroelectric power plants. However, prior to the introduction of wind farms, their development was hindered by the inability to ensure energy production at a constant and predictable level. As part of the PowerShift Atlantic project, this has been achieved. Source: PowerShift Atlatic

With the beginning of the work of the wind farm, switching between energy sources began to occur imperceptibly for users, the dependence on weather conditions was eliminated, which allowed further development of wind and hydroelectric power plants. The total capacity of the controlled wind farm energy system is more than 6,200 MW.

One of the most famous and large-scale wind farm projects being implemented right now is the Tesla baby, a giant virtual power plant in South Australia, combining 50 thousand houses with installed solar panels and Powerwall 2 batteries. The importance of the project is that it is already a state-level development , not a tool to solve a local problem. The main goal of the Australian wind farm is to supplement and strengthen the national energy system and reduce the cost of electricity for subscribers. When the project is completed, the Tesla solar farm will produce 250 MW of energy, and its batteries will be able to store up to 650 MW / h. This is Australia's largest green project at the moment.

What unites these projects? The availability of renewable resources (on the Atlantic coast of Canada, one of the best wind conditions in the world for creating wind farms; in southern Australia, 180 sunny days a year) and the presence of residential quarters of cities with a loose long development.

Similar projects were implemented in Finland (as a result of the work of the wind farm, greenhouse gas emissions there decreased by 0.5%), Slovenia , Germany , and Hawaii .

What is stopping virtual power plants?

The development of virtual power plants is seriously hindered at the legislative level. The fact is that the sale of electricity to consumers in many countries is allowed only for the state, which buys it from private producers. Therefore, it is impossible to organize a private distributed network without state participation.

If you look at the Russian experience, you should note the slow but inevitable progress. In 2017, the Government of the Russian Federation approved the “Plan of measures to stimulate the development of generating facilities based on renewable energy sources with an installed capacity of up to 15 kW”, which implies the full operation of small renewable energy sources, such as private windmills and solar panels. A special preferential “green tariff”, according to which owners of home power plants could sell surplus electricity to the state, has not yet been introduced, but the bill is being considered in the State Duma, and there are good chances that it will be adopted this year.

Also, the weak point of virtual power plants is the high cost of implementation, which is difficult to predict. Alternative power plants are needed that produce expensive electricity, which itself needs to be subsidized. It is necessary to install and synchronize IoT sensors, which, in turn, make high demands on the quality of the Internet connection (however, in advanced countries this problem will be solved with the deployment of 5G networks). Sophisticated software and ongoing support are needed. And this again leads us to the need to support the state or another major investor at the stage of launching a wind farm.

What awaits us all?

Virtual power plants will actively develop, gradually pushing outdated legislation throughout the world. Around 2021, we will witness the emergence of a completely new electricity market, closely linked to virtual power plants, the smart distribution of energy reserves and the optimization of energy consumption of all market participants. By this year, the construction of large virtual power plants will be completed in the US, EU and Japan, and their advantages will become apparent.

Well-established wind farm systems stimulate the world to increase the share of alternative energy sources, which will contribute to improving the environmental situation on the planet and saving natural resources. Plus, the energy infrastructure will completely change: instead of giant power plants and a network of wires diverging to consumers, we get a decentralized network. And this means that the future energy systems of mankind will become less vulnerable in the event of cataclysms - in Japan, where the share of renewable energy sources is small and amounts to about 17%, wind farms are actively interested in this context. Decentralization of energy flows will help the Japanese avoid massive blackouts during earthquakes and typhoons.

Also, a decentralized network of producers and consumers of electricity will be able to create more charging stations for electric vehicles and this will stimulate the industry. And do not discount the fact that the less humanity needs super-powerful electricity producers, the less the likelihood of major technological disasters. So gradually we make our planet better, more comfortable and safer. And everyone will benefit.