{"id":24428,"date":"2018-11-08T13:32:09","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T03:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=24428"},"modified":"2020-01-16T16:28:22","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T05:58:22","slug":"virtual-power-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/virtual-power-plants\/","title":{"rendered":"How Virtual Power Plants Can Improve Battery Payback"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_25644\" style=\"width: 1210px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25644\" class=\"wp-image-25644 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/vpp-worth-it.jpg\" alt=\"Virtual Power Plants and solar battery systems\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/vpp-worth-it.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/vpp-worth-it-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/vpp-worth-it-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/vpp-worth-it-1024x536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-25644\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Virtual Power Plants: What Are They And Can They Make Batteries Pay?<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I&#8217;m really excited to have this opportunity to tell you about Virtual Power Plants.\u00a0 I&#8217;m virtually beside myself with excitement.\u00a0 That&#8217;s not just a horrible joke.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve actually written little bits of this post in a variety of houses and used <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PeterKayClips\/videos\/1325350710849025\/?t=21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">t&#8217;internet<\/a> to store each file in the cloud.\u00a0 Once I&#8217;m done pasting them all together I&#8217;m sure you won&#8217;t be able to tell the difference between this and an article that was centrally generated.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>A Virtual Power Plant &#8212; or VPP for short &#8212; \u00a0enables many separate battery systems to act as one.<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"My Name Is Legion, For We Are Many\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/O9kpgsSJ8kg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>This allows the high-level\u00a0VPP operator to run them as though they were one large power plant.\u00a0 A VPP can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sell stored solar power to the grid.<\/li>\n<li>Get paid for helping keep the grid stable.<\/li>\n<li>Suck up grid power when it&#8217;s cheap and sell it later for a profit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are three things a home battery normally can&#8217;t do<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/virtual-power-plants\/#en-24428-1' id='enref-24428-1' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(24428)'>1<\/a><\/sup> and so has the potential to make an unsubsidised home battery systems go from being a waste of money to possibly paying for themselves.<\/p>\n<p>In South Australia, which now has a big fat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-battery-subsidy-update\/\">solar battery subsidy<\/a>, all systems that want to receive it must\u00a0be capable of joining a Virtual Power Plant.\u00a0 The subsidy is large enough to have a major effect on the entire Australian market and means most home battery systems \u00a0will soon be\u00a0VPP capable no matter what state they are sold in.\u00a0 Once the electronics for this sort of thing becomes standardized it should\u00a0be very cheap.<\/p>\n<p>As an example of what I mean, I have a toy that has more computing power than a 1980s supercomputer. Don&#8217;t be fooled by the trendy, fake, retro patina.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_25596\" style=\"width: 919px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25596\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25596\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/toy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"909\" height=\"854\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/toy.jpg 909w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/toy-300x282.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/toy-768x722.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 909px) 100vw, 909px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-25596\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">It&#8217;s name is Tonto X-23<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I&#8217;ve already written about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sa-virtual-power-plant\/\">Tesla VPP<\/a> that&#8217;s being trialed in Adelaide and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sonnenflat-review\/\">Sonnen Flat VPP<\/a>.\u00a0 Later I&#8217;ll write about the AGL one but I&#8217;ll probably get someone else to write about Simply Energy&#8217;s S.M.A.R.T. Virtual Power Plant because I&#8217;ll probably be sick of it by then.\u00a0 In this article I&#8217;ll cover:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The two broad types of VPP &#8212; privately owned and company owned.<\/li>\n<li>How VPPs help home batteries pay for themselves.<\/li>\n<li>Why we can expect electricity retailer VPPs to try to rip us off.<\/li>\n<li>Battery wear and tear.<\/li>\n<li>How\u00a0VPPs could become redundant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>VPP Potential<\/h2>\n<p>It remains to be seen how important VPPs become, but they may become standard for these reasons:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They may be the only way households can obtain benefits VPPs provide.<\/li>\n<li>Electricity retailers may ensure they stay the only way household can get these benefits so they can profit from VPPs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I hope the second point above transpires as\u00a0far too cynical.<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/virtual-power-plants\/#en-24428-2' id='enref-24428-2' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(24428)'>2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Virtual Power Plants have the potential to become major players in the nation&#8217;s power supply.\u00a0 The South Australian government is subsidizing 40,000 home battery systems, all of which must\u00a0be VPP capable<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/virtual-power-plants\/#en-24428-3' id='enref-24428-3' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(24428)'>3<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 If they all become part of a virtual power plant and are able to output an average of 4 kilowatts of power each, that would be\u00a0equivalent to a 160 megawatt peak power plant.\u00a0 It could provide around 5% of the state&#8217;s highest ever grid demand.<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/virtual-power-plants\/#en-24428-4' id='enref-24428-4' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(24428)'>4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_25642\" style=\"width: 700px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25642\" class=\"wp-image-25642 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/maxandmindemand2.png\" alt=\"maximum and minimum SA electricity demand\" width=\"690\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/maxandmindemand2.png 690w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/maxandmindemand2-300x180.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 690px) 100vw, 690px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-25642\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Image: AEMO)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Maybe we&#8217;ll eventually install far more than 40,000 battery systems.\u00a0 If one in five South Australian homes installs a system that can offer an average 4 kilowatts of power and they all join a VPP it would be able to provide 533 megawatts.\u00a0 That would effectively make it the second largest power plant in the state and able to supply close to 16% of South Australia&#8217;s highest ever grid demand.\u00a0 And if every house had a battery system that was part of a Virtual Power Plant we could shut down most of our power stations.<\/p>\n<p>VPPs will only be able to give their maximum power output for two hours or so, but that&#8217;s still enough to make a huge difference.<\/p>\n<h2>Privately Owned Vs. Company Owned Battery Systems<\/h2>\n<p>VPPs come in two basic types:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Company owned:\u00a0 A company such as Tesla owns the battery system and installs in your home for free.<\/li>\n<li>Private ownership:\u00a0 You pay for a battery system and opt into joining a VPP in return for some form of compensation.\u00a0 For current trials this is often a reduced battery price.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Company Owned Battery Systems<\/h2>\n<p>Tesla is trialing a VPP in Adelaide where they install a Powerwall 2 along with rooftop solar in housing commission homes.\u00a0 The tenants pay nothing for this and receive electricity bills that are around 30% less than what they were paying before.\u00a0 Tesla owns the electricity generated and controls the use of the battery to maximise the amount of money they can make from their VPP.<\/p>\n<p>The fairly recently elected SA Liberals have said the initial trial is going ahead but I have doubts it will go further than that.\u00a0 The new state government is subsidising 40,000 VPP capable battery systems and that has got to hurt what Tesla&#8217;s VPP will earn.\u00a0 I think the SA government will be happy to let the Tesla VPP wither on the vine &#8212; which is an appropriate metaphor for the wine state.\u00a0 But maybe Tesla will still manage to pull it off despite the extra competition.\u00a0 They have achieved great things in the past.\u00a0 It&#8217;s just these great things achieved in the past all happened in the future relative to when they promised\u00a0them.\u00a0 Tesla may switch to a privately owned Virtual Power Plant model to take advantage of the SA battery subsidy, but their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/tesla-powerwall-2-price-rise\/\">recent Powerwall price increase<\/a> won&#8217;t help sales.<\/p>\n<h2>Privately Owned\u00a0Battery Systems<\/h2>\n<p>At the moment if you want to join a VPP it is likely you&#8217;ll have to do it by buying your own battery.\u00a0 Right now you can get a Sonnen battery and join <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sonnenflat-review\/\">Sonnen Flat<\/a><sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/virtual-power-plants\/#en-24428-5' id='enref-24428-5' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(24428)'>5<\/a><\/sup> or you can take part in a VPP trial which &#8212; as far as I am aware &#8212; are only available at the moment in and around Adelaide.\u00a0 But I suspect trials will either be carried out in other parts of Australia or electricity retailers will have gained so much experience that fully formed VPPs will spring forth like Athena from the head of Zeus.<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/virtual-power-plants\/#en-24428-6' id='enref-24428-6' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(24428)'>6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>With private ownership you buy the battery and receive a financial incentive to join a Virtual Power Plant.\u00a0 For those able to join Sonnen Flat the advantage is you will have all your electricity use &#8212; up to a limit &#8212; supplied for a flat rate.\u00a0 Depending on your circumstances this can be much better than paying for grid electricity normally.\u00a0 In current trials electricity retailers will heavily subsidise the battery system cost in return for occasionally controlling it.\u00a0 I know <a href=\"https:\/\/www.finnpeacock.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">one person<\/a> who is part of the AGL VPP trial and he says they never use his battery.\u00a0 But it is a trial so it&#8217;s possible he&#8217;s part of a control group.<\/p>\n<h2>SA Battery Subsidy + VPP Trial Subsidy = Dirt Cheap Batteries<\/h2>\n<p>The South Australian battery subsidy can apply to batteries that are already subsidized as part of VPP trials and so it may be possible to get them dirt cheap in January when battery systems other than Sonnen can receive the subsidy.\u00a0 I&#8217;ll look into this and let you know what kind of deals are available.<\/p>\n<p><strong style=\"font-style: italic;\">Spoiler From Finn:<\/strong><i> If <\/i><a style=\"font-style: italic;\" href=\"https:\/\/aglsolar.com.au\/power-in-numbers\/#intro-to-vpp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AGL&#8217;s LG Chem + SolarEdge offer<\/a><i> gets approval for the SA subsidy and they have any left come January &#8211; it should be free. If the Powerwall 2 is added as an approved battery under the SA subsidy, then you should be able to get one fully installed from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.simplyenergy.com.au\/energy-solutions\/battery-storage\/smart-storage\/?utm_campaign=VPP_page&amp;utm_source=Web&amp;utm_medium=internal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Simply Energy for $1,299\u00a0from January<\/a>. That&#8217;s a<del> pretty\u00a0good<\/del> bloody amazing deal.<\/i><\/p>\n<h2>3 Ways VPPs Can Make Money<\/h2>\n<p>Companies would not be spending resources trialing VPPs if they didn&#8217;t think they could make money from them.\u00a0 It&#8217;s not like in 1492 when an <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Christopher_Columbus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">Italian loony<\/a> could rock up to the King and Queen of Spain, declare he thought the planet earth was the size of mars, and get three ships to sail to India.\u00a0 These days it has to be clear there is profit to be made before money gets put into projects.<\/p>\n<p>There are three main ways Virtual Power Plants can make money:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Electricity arbitrage:\u00a0 This is buying electricity when the price is low and selling when it&#8217;s high.<\/li>\n<li>Ancillary Services: Virtual Power Plants can be paid to provide services that stabilize the grid.<\/li>\n<li>Ripping you off:\u00a0 An electricity retailer isn&#8217;t going to hand over all the savings your battery provides them unless they have no choice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>It&#8217;s Arbitrage!<\/h2>\n<p>Arbitrage is simply buying low and selling high, which is far more effective at making money than vice-versa.\u00a0 This graph shows the wholesale price of electricity in South Australia yesterday:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-25618 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/min.jpg\" alt=\"Electricity price and demand - SA\" width=\"766\" height=\"395\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/min.jpg 766w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/min-300x155.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 766px) 100vw, 766px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The lowest price is highlighted and came to $15.99 per megawatt-hour, which is 1.599 cents per kilowatt-hour.<\/p>\n<p>This is the same graph but with the highest wholesale price of electricity in the evening highlighted:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-25620 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/evening.jpg\" alt=\"South Australian electricity price and demand\" width=\"766\" height=\"395\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/evening.jpg 766w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/evening-300x155.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 766px) 100vw, 766px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It was 21.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.\u00a0 As a household in South Australia is likely to be paying around 37 cents per kilowatt-hour for grid electricity, they&#8217;d probably prefer to use that stored energy themselves than send it into the grid.\u00a0 But yesterday was a pleasant spring day.\u00a0 At times, especially on hot summer days, the wholesale price of electricity can go over $14 per kilowatt-hour.\u00a0 If you are a skilled math guy like me you&#8217;ll know that $14 is at least 3 times more than 37 cents.\u00a0 So a VPP can tell households, &#8220;Most of the time the energy stored in your battery is all for you.\u00a0 We just want to discharge it for maybe 50 hours a year.&#8221;\u00a0 If in that 50 hours they discharge 250 kilowatt-hours at an average wholesale price of $5 they will receive $1,250 in payment from the electricity market.<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"Beastie Boys - Sabotage (Official Music Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z5rRZdiu1UE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>Important detail:<\/strong> One good thing about selling electricity to the wholesale market is the sold electricity will reduce the household&#8217;s grid electricity consumption first and then the surplus will go out into the grid.\u00a0 The VPP still gets paid for all the electricity it discharges from its batteries as the market doesn&#8217;t care if you use that energy or your neighbor does because it will still cut the demand for grid electricity.<\/p>\n<h2>Ancillary Services<\/h2>\n<p>VPPs can receive payment for providing ancillary services that improve grid stability.\u00a0 Rather than go into a long spiel about ancillary services I&#8217;ll just briefly cover Frequency Control Ancillary Services or FCAS.<\/p>\n<p>In Australia, Europe, and all sensible countries the grid frequency is 50 hertz.\u00a0 Japan is only half sensible so only half the country is on 50 Hertz.\u00a0 The United States&#8217; grid is on 60 hertz on account of George Washington having <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ig7eNpZQ4ZQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">six fingers<\/a> on each hand.\u00a0 Australia tries\u00a0to keep its grid frequency between 49.9 and 50.1 hertz.\u00a0 But when the demand for grid electricity suddenly rises the frequency decreases.\u00a0 By supplying battery power VPPs can prevent this.\u00a0 There is also a payment for consuming power when the demand suddenly drops.\u00a0 This payment is tiny compared to providing power, but can still be useful.<\/p>\n<p>This graph shows how much\u00a0FCAS\u00a0earns and how most of the payment is for response in the first 5 minutes:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_25622\" style=\"width: 547px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25622\" class=\"wp-image-25622 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/fcas.jpg\" alt=\"Frequency Control Ancillary Services (FCAS) costs\" width=\"537\" height=\"555\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/fcas.jpg 537w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/fcas-290x300.jpg 290w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 537px) 100vw, 537px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-25622\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Image: AEMO)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>While an individual household may already be discharging their battery at its full power when\u00a0FCAS is required, on average there will always be many batteries in a Virtual Power Plant operating below full capacity and so it will always be able to give a good, hard, 5 minute FCAS.\u00a0 Because a 5 minute discharge will hardly be noticed, this service has little cost to the household while providing revenue for the VPP.<\/p>\n<h2>Diminishing Returns<\/h2>\n<p>While ancillary services can currently provide a significant amount of revenue, the amount of battery storage in South Australia is already decreasing FCAS earnings.\u00a0 It may not be long at all before the FCAS market is completely FCASed up from the point of view of people trying to make money from it.<\/p>\n<p>The same applies for electricity arbitrage.\u00a0 The more storage capacity installed the less money batteries will be able to make on the wholesale market.\u00a0 And batteries aren&#8217;t just competing with each other but with other forms of energy storage such as pumped hydro and solar thermal.<\/p>\n<p>Because of these diminishing returns we can expect fairly continuous downward pressure on VPP compensation.\u00a0 As batteries will continue to fall in price installed capacity should still increase, but currently installed systems that looked like they would pay for themselves, thanks to being part of a VPP, may end up being money losers.<\/p>\n<h2>Ripping You Off<\/h2>\n<p>If your battery saves an electricity retailer a net $1,000 a year by being part of their VPP then maybe the retailer will pay you $1,000 a year in compensation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"Monkeys might fly out of my butt\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BZVgl49yPzg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Or, more likely, they will try to keep as much of that $1,000 for themselves as possible.\u00a0 Competition between retailers may limit how much they rip you off, but we&#8217;ve seen how confusing they make their electricity plans so I have zero confidence they will not do everything in their power to pay households as little as possible unless there is unusually effective regulation stopping them.<\/p>\n<h2>Wear And Tear On Your Battery<\/h2>\n<p>While a VPP only needs to spend a limited amount of time using your battery to make money, it will still contribute to wear and tear.\u00a0 Some batteries are more resistant to deterioration than others.\u00a0 Many, including the LG Chem RESU and Tesla Powerwall 2, only provide a limited number of kilowatt-hours before their warranty ends.\u00a0 But lithium iron phosphate batteries may be warranted for the first of 10 years or 10,000 cycles and so should be very suitable for use in a Virtual Power Plant.\u00a0 Before joining you should consider how much the extra wear and tear is likely to cost you.<\/p>\n<h2>VPP:\u00a0 Service Providers Or Parasites?<\/h2>\n<p>Provided the amount you get ripped off isn&#8217;t too bad it can make sense to join a VPP if you own a battery.\u00a0 In most of Australia it is not possible for a household to independently sell battery power on the wholesale market.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/amber-electric-review\/\">Amber Electric<\/a> is the only retailer I am aware that allows this.\u00a0 Right now they are only available in South Australia and the Ausgrid network in NSW, but they say they intend to spread to the other eastern states.\u00a0 Battery systems would have to be made capable of independently responding to price signals to take advantage of this, but that&#8217;s something we know software can do these days.<\/p>\n<p>While one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/comparison-table\/\">home solar battery<\/a> can&#8217;t be relied on to always be able to provide ancillary services as a VPP can, it could receive a direct payment for being able to provide ancillary services most\u00a0of the time.\u00a0 So if all Australians had the option to sell electricity at wholesale prices and to also receive direct payments for the ancillary services they provide, it would not be necessary to join a Virtual Power Plant.\u00a0 Battery systems would basically function if they were part of a VPP but there wouldn&#8217;t be a middle man between them and the grid taking a cut. Wouldn&#8217;t that be nice.<\/p>\n<p>(<strong>Added January 16, 2020<\/strong>: Compare Virtual Power Plant offers with our new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/vpp-comparison\/\">VPP comparison table<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m really excited to have this opportunity to tell you about Virtual Power Plants.\u00a0 I&#8217;m virtually beside myself with excitement.\u00a0 That&#8217;s not just a horrible joke.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve actually written little bits of this post in a variety of houses and used t&#8217;internet to store each file in the cloud.\u00a0 Once I&#8217;m done pasting them all [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":25644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-battery-storage","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Virtual Power Plants Can Improve Solar Battery Payback<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you own a solar battery system, should you go the extra mile and join a Virtual Power Plant (VPP)? Here we explain what a VPP is and how they make money.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/virtual-power-plants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Virtual Power Plants Can Improve Battery Payback\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you own a solar battery system, should you go the extra mile and join a Virtual Power Plant (VPP)? 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Then I have good news.\u00a0 The SolarQuotes Virtual Power Plant (VPP) Comparison Table is up and running.\u00a0 So if you are interested in joining a VPP, you'd better go catch it. If you're not feeling energetic enough to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Battery Storage&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Battery Storage","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/battery-storage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Virtual power plant comparison","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/vpp-compare.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/vpp-compare.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/vpp-compare.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/vpp-compare.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/vpp-compare.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":69887,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/hybrid-systems-vpp-mb2790\/","url_meta":{"origin":24428,"position":3},"title":"Hybrid Systems Australia Secures WA Schools VPP Project Slice","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"January 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Hybrid Systems Australia will be installing four fairly chunky solar and battery setups for a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) pilot project in Western Australia. Synergy and WA's McGowan Government have been working on a initiative involving solar and\/or batteries and VPP technology for a bunch of schools across the state's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"WA Schools VPP Pilot","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/schools-vpp-pilot.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/schools-vpp-pilot.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/schools-vpp-pilot.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/schools-vpp-pilot.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/schools-vpp-pilot.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":93042,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/agl-tesla-vpp-mb3219\/","url_meta":{"origin":24428,"position":4},"title":"AGL Snaps Up Tesla&#8217;s SA VPP","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"July 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Gentailer AGL announced on Friday it has acquired 100 per cent of South Australia's Virtual Power Plant (SA VPP) from Tesla. So, what are its plans and what next for existing customers? A Virtual Power Plant (VPP) is a network of distributed energy resources \u2013 such as homes with solar\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tesla Powerwall battery installation","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/vpp-tesla-agl.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/vpp-tesla-agl.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/vpp-tesla-agl.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/vpp-tesla-agl.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/vpp-tesla-agl.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58501,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/kalbarri-microgrid-vpp-mb2341\/","url_meta":{"origin":24428,"position":5},"title":"Kalbarri Microgrid Launched, Local School To Join VPP Pilot","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"February 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"It's all happening in Western Australia's Kalbarri, where Australia's largest connected microgrid is (finally) officially launched and the local high school has been chosen to join a Virtual Power Plant initiative. Kalbarri is a coastal town around 590 kilometre north of Perth, home to around 1,560 and also attracting more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Solar &amp; Storage News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Solar &amp; Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kalbarri microgrid and school VPP","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/kalbarri-microgrid-vpp.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/kalbarri-microgrid-vpp.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/kalbarri-microgrid-vpp.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/kalbarri-microgrid-vpp.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/kalbarri-microgrid-vpp.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24428"}],"version-history":[{"count":64,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36552,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24428\/revisions\/36552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}