Virtual power plants (VPPs) have been tested and are being proven in South Africa, and their widespread use could reduce the need to build some new transmission and distribution infrastructure while ensuring that the network is stable and reliable.
These plants could defer some grid capital expenditure by providing energy services in a localised area, thereby reducing congestion on the grid, climate and energy strategy advisory firm Meridian Economics climate, policy and energy analyst Nic van Doesburgh has said.
During an 'Exploring VPP Solutions for South Africa's Energy Future' webinar, on July 8, hosted by energy consulting firm EE Business Intelligence, he provided an overview of VPPs.
VPPs are service platforms that provide flexibility to electricity grids by coordinating distributed energy sources and storage, and flexible demand sources.
Services VPPs could provide include demand-response, shifting flexible demand, exporting energy to the grid and rapid-frequency responses to provide system stability, he said.
