{"id":38560,"date":"2020-03-30T13:50:13","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T03:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=38560"},"modified":"2020-03-30T13:50:13","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T03:20:13","slug":"aemo-report-vpp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/aemo-report-vpp\/","title":{"rendered":"AEMO Judgement On SA VPPs: Yes, They Help The Grid And Turn A Profit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"South

The Tesla VPP in South Australia networks thousands of residential Powerwall batteries to work together, support the grid and make money. How did it go in its first 12 months? Pretty good.<\/p><\/div>\n

South Australia\u2019s Virtual Power Plant isn\u2019t just delivering electricity to consumers in that state – it\u2019s also proven successful at helping the SA grid respond to grid-scale events. And that grid-response is a profitable sideline for the VPP.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the conclusion offered in this AEMO paper<\/a>, an analysis of the VPP\u2019s performance when the SA grid was under stress.<\/p>\n

The five events in question happened between April 2019 and January 2020. Three required emergency Frequency Control Ancillary Service (FCAS) responses to keep the grid\u2019s frequency within spec, while the other two were events which, in the AEMO\u2019s language,<\/p>\n

\u201crequired an energy response\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(the VPP had to respond to energy market signals – price rises and falls).<\/p>\n

The analysis focuses on the Energy Locals \/ Tesla VPP, and it found grid stabilisation was a handy revenue generator for the project, with $132,000 revenue from large contingency FCAS events, and $126,000 from lower contingency FCAS events.<\/p>\n

Where Does A VPP Fit In The Grid?<\/h2>\n

There are currently three VPPs in operation in Australia\u2019s grid, all in South Australia (we\u2019ve listed them here<\/a>). As we explained<\/a> when we first published our VPP comparison table<\/a>, the idea is pretty simple: participants allow the VPP operator to take over control of their battery, in exchange for the chance to buy and sell grid electricity at wholesale, rather than retail, prices.<\/p>\n

The operator then gets to charge or discharge the batteries in response to what\u2019s going on in the grid. If there\u2019s a power shortage, the batteries discharge; if there\u2019s an excess on the grid, the operator feeds the cheap power into the batteries.<\/p>\n

That makes a VPP potentially important in an increasingly renewable world in which the grid has less \u201cbig spinning iron\u201d to help stabilise grid frequency, and in which there can be big changes in supply with increases or falls in sunshine or wind.<\/p>\n

VPP And Frequency Stabilisation<\/h2>\n

The three times SA\u2019s grid needed FCAS were when:<\/p>\n