Virtual power plant

A virtual power plant coordinates distributed energy resources so they can operate and participate in electricity markets as a single power plant.

Distributed energy resource management system: Software that monitors and coordinates distributed energy resources across an electricity system. It aggregates device data and dispatch instructions across a virtual power plant.
Electricity market: A system of rules and transactions for buying and selling electricity and related services. Virtual power plants aggregate resources to participate in these wholesale and retail arrangements.
Distributed generation: Electricity generation from relatively small resources located near the places where electricity is used. It supplies generation that can be coordinated alongside storage and flexible demand.
Conventional power plant: A centralized facility that generates electricity using equipment such as turbines, reactors, or engines. It concentrates generation at one site rather than coordinating many dispersed devices.
Demand response: Changes in electricity use made in response to grid conditions, prices, or utility requests. Reducing or shifting customer loads can provide dispatchable capacity to the aggregation.
Ancillary services: Services that maintain reliable grid operation, including frequency regulation and operating reserves. Fast, coordinated resources can supply services beyond producing energy.
Rooftop solar power: Electricity generated by photovoltaic panels installed on building rooftops. Residential and commercial solar systems are common generation resources in an aggregation.
Virtual power plant software: Software that forecasts, optimizes, and controls a coordinated portfolio of distributed energy resources. The software is the coordination layer, not the full resource network or market arrangement.
Battery energy storage system: A system that stores electricity in batteries and releases it when needed. Batteries let an aggregation shift energy across time and respond quickly to dispatch.
Frequency regulation: Adjustments to power supply or demand that keep electricity-system frequency near its target. Aggregated batteries and flexible loads can make rapid balancing adjustments.

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