A Virtual Power Plant Solution for Aggregating Photovoltaic Systems and Other Distributed Energy Resources for Northern European Primary Frequency Reserves

Subramanya, Rakshith; Yli-Ojanperä, Matti; Sierla, Seppo; Hölttä, Taneli; Valtakari, Jori; Vyatkin, Valeriy

doi:10.3390/en14051242

Open AccessArticle

A Virtual Power Plant Solution for Aggregating Photovoltaic Systems and Other Distributed Energy Resources for Northern European Primary Frequency Reserves

by

Rakshith Subramanya

^1,*

,

Matti Yli-Ojanperä

¹,

Seppo Sierla

¹

,

Taneli Hölttä

¹,

Jori Valtakari

² and

Valeriy Vyatkin

^1,3,4

¹

Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, School of Electrical Engineering, Aalto University, FI-00076 Espoo, Finland

²

Siemens Osakeyhtiö, 02600 Espoo, Finland

³

SRT, Luleå University of Technology, 97187 Luleå, Sweden

⁴

International Research Laboratory of Computer Technologies, ITMO University, 197101 St. Petersburgh, Russia

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Energies 2021, 14(5), 1242; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14051242

Submission received: 3 February 2021 / Revised: 12 February 2021 / Accepted: 18 February 2021 / Published: 24 February 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Photovoltaic Technology in Northern Europe)

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Abstract

Primary frequency reserves in Northern Europe have traditionally been provided with hydro plants and fossil fuel-burning spinning reserves. Recently, smart distributed energy resources have been equipped with functionality needed to participate on frequency reserves. Key categories of such resources include photovoltaic systems, batteries, and smart loads. Most of these resources are small and cannot provide the minimum controllable power required to participate on frequency reserves. Thus, virtual power plants have been used to aggregate the resources and trade them on the frequency reserves markets. The information technology aspects of virtual power plants are proprietary and many of the details have not been made public. The first contribution of this article is to propose a generic data model and application programming interface for a virtual power plant with the above-mentioned capabilities. The second contribution is to use the application programming interface to cope with the unpredictability of the frequency reserve capacity that the photovoltaic systems and other distributed energy resources are able to provide to the frequency reserves markets in the upcoming bidding period. The contributions are demonstrated with an operational virtual power plant installation at a Northern European shopping center, aggregating photovoltaic Primary Frequency Reserves resources.

Keywords: solar power; virtual power plant; application programming interface; primary frequency reserve; frequency containment reserve; demand response; forecasting; machine learning; neural network

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MDPI and ACS Style

Subramanya, R.; Yli-Ojanperä, M.; Sierla, S.; Hölttä, T.; Valtakari, J.; Vyatkin, V. A Virtual Power Plant Solution for Aggregating Photovoltaic Systems and Other Distributed Energy Resources for Northern European Primary Frequency Reserves. Energies 2021, 14, 1242. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14051242

AMA Style

Subramanya R, Yli-Ojanperä M, Sierla S, Hölttä T, Valtakari J, Vyatkin V. A Virtual Power Plant Solution for Aggregating Photovoltaic Systems and Other Distributed Energy Resources for Northern European Primary Frequency Reserves. Energies. 2021; 14(5):1242. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14051242

Chicago/Turabian Style

Subramanya, Rakshith, Matti Yli-Ojanperä, Seppo Sierla, Taneli Hölttä, Jori Valtakari, and Valeriy Vyatkin. 2021. "A Virtual Power Plant Solution for Aggregating Photovoltaic Systems and Other Distributed Energy Resources for Northern European Primary Frequency Reserves" Energies 14, no. 5: 1242. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14051242

APA Style

Subramanya, R., Yli-Ojanperä, M., Sierla, S., Hölttä, T., Valtakari, J., & Vyatkin, V. (2021). A Virtual Power Plant Solution for Aggregating Photovoltaic Systems and Other Distributed Energy Resources for Northern European Primary Frequency Reserves. Energies, 14(5), 1242. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14051242

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A Virtual Power Plant Solution for Aggregating Photovoltaic Systems and Other Distributed Energy Resources for Northern European Primary Frequency Reserves

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