By zhanqun1 
Virtual Power Plant（VPP） is a new kind of dispatching power management system.
Information technology and software systems realize the functions of distributed supply, energy storage, or adjustable load of a virtual power plant.
Distributed resource aggregation and collaboration shall be optimized.
In that sense, as a specific power plant, it plays an important role in taking part in the electricity market coordinated management system and coordinated operation of the grid. It can act like a “positive power plant” to feed power into the system; it can also serve as a “negative power plant” to enhance load absorption and cooperate with the system in filling the valley. It is of great practical significance to promote the balance of supply and demand in the power grid, integrate the distributed energy at low cost, fully absorb the generation of clean energy, and promote transformation towards green energy by vigorously developing virtual power plants in the backdrop of the power grid operation mode transforming towards flexible interaction of source-network-load-storage and structural transformation towards clean and low carbon.
1. Classification of virtual power plant: power supply type, load type, energy storage type, hybrid type
It includes controllable and uncontrollable units, such as wind, light, and other dispersed energy, energy storage, controllable load, electric vehicles, communication equipment, and so on. Further considering the demand response, uncertainty, and other factors, through information communication with the control center, cloud center, power trading center, and so on, to realize energy exchange with the large power grid.
Virtual power plants of different characteristic types can be divided into differences in external characteristics, such as service capabilities. A virtual power plant can be divided into a power supply virtual power plant, a load virtual power plant, an energy storage virtual power plant, a hybrid virtual power plant, and so on.
Power type: depending on actual situation, it may have the ability to sell energy, participate in the energy market, and participate in the auxiliary service market. Load type: With the ability of power regulation, it can participate in the auxiliary service market. The energy sale properties do not. Energy storage: It can participate in the auxiliary service market; at the same time, through discharge, it also can sell electricity for part of the time. Hybrid: versatile role.
Japan and Germany emphasize energy storage and distributed power as the main body of virtual power plants. The United States is mainly controlled load, with a scale of more than 5% of the peak load.
2. Development Trend of Virtual Power Plant: From Invitation Type to Market Type
The development of virtual power plants can be divided into three stages: invitation type, transaction type, and autonomous type.
The autonomous stage means a virtual power plant that independently schedules across space. The variety of resources aggregated by the power plants is becoming more and more, and the quantity is getting larger and larger; the space scope is also becoming wider and wider to form a “virtual power system”.
Dealmaking stage: in the upper stream, when the electric energy spot market, ancillary service market, and capacity market are established, VPP aggregators will participate in the market in a power plant similar form in order to generate revenues. Invitation stage: When the power market does not exist, the government organization takes the initiative, with other kinds of aggregators joining in to work together to fulfill the whole process of invitation, response, and incentive.
Autonomous stage: in-space autonomous scheduling virtual power plant. With the increase in the types of resources aggregated by power plants, the increase in quantities in large quantities, and the increase in space, the formation of a “virtual power system” includes basic resources such as adjustable load, energy storage, split power supply, and so on, and also includes the integration of these basic resources into microgrids and local energy Internet.
At present, as the current energy storage and the distributed power supply and power trading market of China has not yet reached maturity, virtual power plants are majorly in the stage where transition is invited into the market.
3. Energy storage is an important direction of virtual power plant promotion.
Characteristics of energy storage
Energy storage development can realize power market frequency modulation and Pinski voltage regulation, even transient stability. According to the characteristic difference of scattered power supply and user power consumption characteristics at different times, a flexible adjustment should be made to the short-term power and give full play to flexible emergency work. Steady energy storage skills can release electric energy in the period of power shortage and deal with medium- and long-term energy shortage.
Prospect of market development: In the future, the main development direction is the cloud energy storage market and the distributed energy storage P2P market. Cloud energy storage realizes energy storage service for massive users by aggregating distributed energy storage resources in the cloud.
As a product of the integration of sharing economy and power system energy storage, it is a new form of future power grid.
On the basis of energy interaction mechanism, the distributed multilateral transaction form with Peer-to-peer technology (P2P) as a typical representative came into being. This kind of transaction mode can realize the local energy balance of the distribution network and has many advantages in exploiting the autonomous interaction characteristics of users and reducing the computing pressure under the centralized management mode.
Currently, the development of virtual power plants focuses on load regulation, and the next step in virtual power plant development will focus on promoting distributed photovoltaic access polymerization. After accessing distributed photovoltaic, the flexibility of virtual power plant regulation can be significantly enhanced to better participate in the power trading market.
Accelerated access to distributed photovoltaics can fuel the landing of “source network load and storage integration”, which can effectively solve the prominent “pain points” that restrict the development of the new energy industry, such as coordination difficulty between new energy and traditional energy and energy storage, thus helping accelerate a new power system with main body construction.