Western Australian (WA) provider of residential rooftop solar power and battery storage equipment Plico has seen its virtual power plant (VPP) activated twice in early December 2024 during heatwave warnings for the state.
Providing stability to the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) and prevent blackouts, the company says it’s privately owned VPP has 2,500 household distributed energy resources (DER) participants, or the equivalent of one 27 MWh battery.
Plico’s VPP uses Canadian-headquartered technology company Amp X’s proprietary VPP digital platform to enable monitoring, control and optimised dispatch of Plico’s systems.
The companies partnered in 2023 after the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) identified a potential reserve shortfall of 326 MW in WA’s main power system, and sought additional capacity from energy providers, like Plico, to cover that shortfall.
On days when demand for electricity is forecast to exceed supply, AEMO directs Plico to activate the VPP, which assumes remote control of their customers’ batteries, instructing them to store energy during the day.
As directed by AEMO, Plico batteries can then export the stored energy back to the grid later in the day over the peak demand period between 5pm and 9pm.
Plico Chief Executive Officer Robbie Campbell said the VPP has helped bring the grid back into balance in peak demand scenarios.
“This is occurring right now where we have had hot summer evenings when energy demand increases just as solar exports start to decrease,” Campbell said.
“Energy fluctuations are significantly challenging in maintaining a stable and reliable grid, so to avoid disruptions to homes during consecutive hot days we export energy stored in batteries back into the grid,” he said.
“The VPP provides additional power to offset the high household demand that would have otherwise strained the grid, which truly demonstrates the power of a VPP as a future solution to manage grid fluctuations and as a blackout prevention.”
In the 2023/2024 summer, the company’s VPP was activated 13 times for the first time in January and February 2023 and the current season is the system’s third summer to be on standby.
Campbell said it was unheard of to be activated this early into summer.
“This is the earliest we’ve been activated, let alone two days in a row, so, without a doubt, this is one of the most significant contributions ever made by a residential VPP aggregator (outside of trials) to the energy market across Australia and something I am personally very proud of,” Campbell said.
“This is also great news for all levels of government as the infrastructure already exists, they don’t have to invest millions into new hardware or infrastructure. It’s also flexible to be able to be activated with minimal notice.”
Campbell recommends a battery subsidy would support households to add a battery to existing solar panel systems.
“Instead of 2,500 customer solar and battery systems, it could be 2 million systems. If we had this amount in every state across Australia, and we could connect and switch them on when we needed them the most, to stabilise not just the grid, but the cost of energy in the future,” he said.
