AGL, Engie embrace 'virtual power plants' to transform energy management
Providers like AGL and Engie are using EV batteries, hot water systems and more to balance supply and demand. Could these assets help Australia transition from coal sooner?
Large national gentailers like AGL Energy and Engie are leveraging the energy resources in customers’ homes to manage peak demand fluctuations caused by intermittent solar power and retiring coal generators.
By grouping thousands of customers as 'virtual power plants' (VPPs), gentailers can coordinate electricity supply from batteries, hot water systems and, increasingly, electric vehicles (EVs) to meet peak demand when other generation sources are in short supply.
These gentailers “orchestrate” the distributed energy resources (DERs) in their VPPs, helping to fill supply gaps from solar and coal-fired generation, while providing unmatched flexibility in their energy portfolios.
In comments made in May, AGL CEO Damien Nicks said the company had made “significant investment in flexibility to capture value from a changing energy market, as well as optimise realised pricing outcomes on the supply side of our portfolios.” Nicks added that VPPs help AGL optimise both its energy supply and customer load profiles, balancing risk and return in a dynamic energy environment.
