Evaluation of regional promotion strategies for Virtual Power Plants using 100% renewables

Abstract

The goal of this Master Thesis is to simulate the possibility of fulfilling the electricity supply of the community Ellzee out of their own local resources by using a Virtual Power Plant and combining existing generation capacities with new storage facilities. The main part of the paper assesses the economic effect for the different power plant owners participating in the Virtual Power Plant. The economic assessment with regards to different promotion strategies will be done on the basis of energyPRO simulations for the Virtual Power Plant in combination with a Vanadium Redox-Flow-battery. The battery will be defined according to the technical requirements for the different promotion strategies especially for participating on the balancing market for offering Tertiary Control Reserve. The findings show that participation on the balancing market for trading Tertiary Control Reserve for the Virtual Power Plant isn't economic viable so far due to high costs of storage systems and the relatively low revenues on the balancing energy market. Also the necessary cost reductions will be defined for the Redox-Flow battery according to the Net present value calculation over the life time. In addition estimations for the participation on other parts of the balancing market will be given.