Using intelligent software, some utilities are making more efficient use of their existing generation capacity, smartly integrating renewable energy generation and storage, and giving the customer a larger role in the prudent use of electricity.
The end result for utilities conducting such efforts is that they have more available power capacity. That derived extra power is analogous to adding capacity by building more facilities. Only in this case, the instead of building a new power plant, the utility essentially has created a virtual power plant (VPP).
Work in this area is just beginning. However, in a recent study the market research and consulting firm Pike Research estimates that the global output from VPPs will grow to about 41 gigawatts by 2015.
One example of the application of this technology is a Shanghai Electric Power Company project. The goal of the work was to reduce the frequency and duration of outages while making more efficient use of the company’s resources.
Working with IBM Research, Shanghai Power deployed software called the Integrated Distribution Outage Planner (IDOP). One area where the companies focused their attention was on scheduled maintenance coordination. Shanghai Power wanted to use IDOP to automate inter-departmental processes to ensure better management of maintenance tasks.
These tasks often require that generation, transmission, or distribution equipment be taken down. In some cases, crews working on different tasks might cause or amplify problems. For instance, if a transmission element is taken down, electricity would be routed over another link. A crew working on that second link might not know the link is now doing double duty. If that second link is taken down for maintenance, a problem might arise.
The IDOP helps Shanghai Power avoid or minimize such problems, which may occur when the work of one crew impacts another. Specifically, the software helps gather information from different departments, automates the coordination of inter-department work, and conducts analysis of possible factors causing an outage. It also can recommend a sequence to perform outage tasks, taking into account the time frame and load transfer path for each outage task.
Since the project was completed earlier this year, the rate of equipment availability at Shanghai Power has increased significantly, according to IBM. And the company's sale of electricity has increased by 50 million kWh per month.
A very different example of a VPP is a Duke Energy pilot project that uses intelligent software to link renewable energy generation, batteries for energy storage, smart meters, and in-home demand response systems.
In the pilot, smart meters let customers monitor their daily electricity usage. And they can then go online and create an energy profile. That profile lets customers specify if they want to throttle back energy usage in peak periods. If so, the customers can determine how they want to reduce power consumption. For example, they can opt to have their air conditioner thermostat adjusted or drier heat turned off automatically when energy demand is high.
According to an Intelligent Utility article, in its first year of operation, the utility saw 5- to 15-percent reductions in energy savings during peak periods.
Other elements of the Duke Energy virtual power plant include solar panels and a large battery. In the pilot program, electricity generated by 213 solar panels at the McAlpine Creek substation can be put directly on the grid in high demand periods, or stored to a 500-kilowatt battery if power generation is adequate to meet demand. This stored power can then be used when demand increases.
The Shanghai Power and Duke Energy projects, while delivering benefits today, are still essentially research programs. A lot more work needs to be done before VPPs become more commonplace.
Is your company involved in a VPP project? If so, I’d love to hear about it. Drop me a note at s.salamone@att.net.
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