IRENA Aggregators 2020
IRENA Aggregators 2020
ISBN 978-92-9260-114-0
Citation: IRENA (2019), Innovation landscape brief: Aggregators, International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi.
About IRENA
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countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future, and serves as the principal platform for
international co-operation, a centre of excellence, and a repository of policy, technology, resource and
financial knowledge on renewable energy. IRENA promotes the widespread adoption and sustainable
use of all forms of renewable energy, including bioenergy, geothermal, hydropower, ocean, solar and
wind energy in the pursuit of sustainable development, energy access, energy security and low-carbon
economic growth and prosperity. www.irena.org
Acknowledgements
This report was prepared by the Innovation team at IRENA’s Innovation and Technology Centre (IITC) and was authored
by Arina Anisie and Francisco Boshell with additional contributions and support by Harsh Kanani and Rajesh Singla
(KPMG India).
Valuable external review was provided by Jan Aengenvoort (Next Kraftwerke), Bud Vos (Enbala) and Varun Gaur (energy &
meteo systems).
Disclaimer
This publication and the material herein are provided “as is”. All reasonable precautions have been taken by IRENA to verify the
reliability of the material in this publication. However, neither IRENA nor any of its officials, agents, data or other third-party
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The information contained herein does not necessarily represent the views of all Members of IRENA. The mention of specific
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This document does not represent the official position of IRENA on any particular topic. Rather, it is intended as a contribution
to technical discussions on the promotion of renewable energy.
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1 BENEFITS
Cloud Computing
Internet
PV Owners
Utility Grid
Aggregators use a centralised IT system to remotely control Energy Storage Systems
the DERs and optimise their operation. VPP
➜ Load shifting
➜ Balancing services to TSOs
➜ Local flexibility to DSOs Wind Power Electric Vehicles
Producers
AGGREGATORS
Increased digitalisation and smart metering have created new business models.
Aggregators are a new market player that can optimise the use of
distributed energy resources.
I N N OVAT I O N L A N DS C A P E B R I E F
INNOVATION DIMENSIONS
11 Flexibility in conventional
power plants
4
AG G R EG ATO R S
Distributed energy resources (DERs) are small or medium-sized resources, directly connected
to the distribution network (EC, 2015). DERs include distributed generation, energy storage
(small scale batteries) and controllable loads, such as electric vehicles (EVs), heat pumps or
demand response.
Behind-the-meter
batteries
Demand Power-to-heat
response
This brief provides an overview of an innovative
business model: aggregators. The brief is structured as follows:
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I N N OVAT I O N L A N DS C A P E B R I E F
I. DESCRIPTION
1 Weather forecasts are used to predict power generation from non-dispatchable renewable energy resources such as solar and
wind power.
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AG G R EG ATO R S
Power flow
Information flow
Non-dispatchable
units such as solar,
wind power units, etc.
Grid
Forecasts
➜ Demand forecast
➜ Supply forecast
➜ Power price forecast
Storage units
Central IT
control system Results
Dispatchable units
such as CHP, biogas,
demand response, etc.
Optimized Output
Note: A central IT control system or a decentralised energy management system (DEMS) sends an optimised schedule to the
dispatchable distributed energy resources.
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I N N OVAT I O N L A N DS C A P E B R I E F
II. C
ONTRIBUTION TO POWER
SECTOR TRANSFORMATION
2 PowerMatcher is a smart grid co-ordination mechanism developed by the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research
(TNO).
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AG G R EG ATO R S
In South Australia, aggregators can meet Additionally, the new power plant is expected to
20 % of daily power demand and provide 30 % lower energy bills for participating households.
savings on energy bills. The wholesale price is estimated to drop by
around USD 3 per MWh for all customers with
each additional 50 MW of capacity that is
The South Australian government and Tesla are brought onto the system via the aggregator.
developing a network of 50 000 household The Australian VPP Tesla proposal could
solar PV units connected into an aggregator. reduce the wholesale electricity price by
This is expected to meet around 20 % of around USD 8/MWh, or around USD 90 million
South Australia’s average daily power demand per year across all South Australian customers,
(250 MW). which means 30 % of the total energy bill
(Frontier Economics, 2018).
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I N N OVAT I O N L A N DS C A P E B R I E F
III. K
EY FACTORS TO ENABLE
DEPLOYMENT
A liberalised wholesale power market with no Real-time data acquisition from DERs is necessary
price caps (especially with spot markets in place) for the creation and operation of a VPP. This would
is essential for establishing aggregators. The require smart meters, broadband communication
main incentives for creating an aggregator are infrastructure, network remote control and
given by the difference between peak / off-peak automation systems (network digitalisation). Real-
pricing on wholesale markets or by signals from time communication between VPP operators and
transmission system operators to deliver control the connected DERs is needed. Network remote
reserve or other ancillary services. control and digitalisation help in improving
network efficiency since the data gathered can
The regulatory framework should enable be used to better forecast demand. Two-way
aggregators to participate in the wholesale communication network devices are essential.
electricity market and also in the ancillary
services market. For example, the New York Better generation forecasting
Independent System Operator (NYISO)
proposed aggregating DERs connected to the Advanced forecasting tools and techniques
same bulk transmission node to ensure that are essential to predict power generation from
these resources are compensated based on renewable energy and load forecast in the power
their locational and temporal value (NYISO, system for deriving an optimised schedule of
2017). While NYISO has restricted aggregation dispatchable DERs. Forecasts for distributed
of DERs to a specified geographical limit, other generation can be integrated with load forecasting
system operators can allow DER aggregation to obtain net load forecasts, thus increasing the
without geographical barriers. visibility of demand-side variations.
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AG G R EG ATO R S
IV. C
URRENT STATUS AND
EXAMPLES OF ONGOING
INITIATIVES
Description Value
USD 762 million in 2016; expected to reach USD 4 597 million in 2023 (compound
Virtual power plant (VPP) global market value
annual growth rate of 25.9 % from 2017 to 2023) (Research and Markets, 2018)
Countries with established regulatory Australia, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, France, Netherlands,
frameworks allowing VPP trading UK, US, etc.
• Forecasting and trading of distributed energy resources
• Optimised dispatching of distributed energy resources according to intraday
Services provided by aggregators pricing on spot markets
• Delivery of ancillary services to transmission (and potentially distribution)
system operators
Tesla proposed the development of a 250 MW • A computer system to control the storage,
virtual power plant to contribute to stabilising use and transfer of renewable and battery-
South Australia’s electricity infrastructure and to stored power between houses and the grid,
improve the security and reliability of the grid in to maximise the value for customers while
an area where nearly half of the electricity comes delivering services to the grid when needed.
from wind farms. The initiative will start with a
trial in 1 100 public housing units (Government of The impact of such a solution would be considerable
South Australia, 2017). in terms of renewable energy integration, with
approximately 130 MW of added rooftop solar
The technology involves four key components: PV generation capacity and 130 MW/330 GWh
of distributed, dispatchable battery storage. This
• Smart meters installed in every participating approximately doubles if the roll-out is extended
household to assist in controlling the rooftop to a similar number of private customers.
solar and battery, and to measure the power
flows; In terms of the flexibility added to the system,
the participation of 50 000 households in the
• A network of rooftop solar PV systems installed programme would add 250 MW of peak capacity
on public housing (5 kW solar panel system); to the system or, alternatively, reduce the
demand on the central grid by 250 MW, freeing
the capacity to be supplied to other customers.
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I N N OVAT I O N L A N DS C A P E B R I E F
In terms of cost reduction, the wholesale price by around USD 6/MWh3, or about USD 65 million
in South Australia is estimated to drop by per year, across all South Australian customers.
around USD 3/MWh for all customers, with each The savings would be approximately double if the
additional 50 MW of capacity brought into the project could achieve its full scale of production of
system that would not otherwise be operating. 250 MW. Moreover, the government has provided
This suggests that if only the public housing estimates showing that the project could lower
customers participated in the arrangement, the the power bills of those who sign up by 30 %
Tesla proposal could reduce the wholesale price (Frontier Economics, 2018).
Eneco CrowdNett Netherlands • Founded in 2016, Eneco CrowdNett is a Dutch-based aggregator of home
batteries and provides grid services through a network of behind-the-meter
batteries owned by prosumers.
• Consumers are provided batteries at a discount and receive an additional
EUR 450 annually in exchange for access to 30 % of the battery capacity at any
time during the day (Hanley, 2016).
Energy & meteo Germany • Emsys supports power aggregators in efficient market integration of their
systems (emsys) power assets.
• Emsys’s offering in VPP includes: connection to distributed power plants through
various interfaces, real-time data management, remote control of wind and PV
(e.g., to avoid negative spot market prices), generation forecast optimisation,
energy scheduling, trading on the day-ahead and intraday spot markets, provision
of balancing power by distributed power plants (primary, secondary and tertiary
control), provision of balancing power by wind farms (tertiary control in Germany),
demand-side management and balancing group management.
• Emsys is one of the first aggregators to execute primary control using batteries
in the German balancing power market.
Next Kraftwerke Europe • Next Kraftwerke is a network of multiple power-producing and power-consuming
units of varied sizes distributed across Europe.
• Next Kraftwerke forecasts the approximate production and consumption of
energy on a real-time basis for the balancing group. It then transmits the
schedule to the TSO on a daily basis and trades the forecasted volumes on
the day-ahead market on the stock exchange. Deviations from the forecast are
compensated through intraday trading.
• Next Kraftwerke’s VPP delivers ancillary services (primary reserve, secondary
reserve, tertiary reserves) in seven European TSO zones and uses its algorithms
to send optimised schedules to the networked units to benefit from peak pricing
on wholesale markets.
• The VPP consists of around 5 500 units amounting to over 4 500 MW
(Next Kraftwerke, n.d.).
Stem United States • This California-based start-up with artificial intelligence technology focuses on
behind-the-meter energy storage systems and VPPs.
• It uses energy storage systems to reduce the cost of electricity for commercial
consumers. The batteries are charged when the cost of electricity is low and
discharged when the cost of electricity is high (typically during peak demand period).
• Stem can use its software to reduce the net demand of its customers, thereby
reducing the demand of the whole area when the existing supply system cannot
supply in the local area (Stem, 2019).
12
AG G R EG ATO R S
V. I MPLEMENTATION
REQUIREMENTS: CHECKLIST
Hardware:
TECHNICAL • Controllable load and supply assets such as energy storage, electric vehicles and distributed generation
REQUIREMENTS
• Smart meters (to provide real-time power consumption and production), home gateways (energy boxes)
and smart appliances for energy management, to enable VPP operation
Software:
• Aggregation software, algorithm to calculate the optimal operation of each unit
• Real-time communication between the aggregator and the hardware system
• Advanced demand and supply forecasting models/platforms for optimised scheduling of dispatchable
distributed energy resources
Communication protocols:
• Common interoperable protocol for co-ordination among system operators, network operators
and prosumers
Wholesale market:
• Participation of aggregators should be allowed in electricity wholesale markets and ancillary service markets
REGULATORY • Introduce regulations allowing decentralised sources to provide services to the central/local grids
REQUIREMENTS
• Clear price signals to guide the aggregators’ operations
• Regulations to mandate implementation of smart meters and smart grid infrastructure
Distribution:
• Establishment of local markets for DSOs to procure services to avoid grid congestion and ensure grid stability
• Data collection, management and sharing rules for DSOs to ensure consumer privacy
Retail market:
• Regulators should define a standardised methodology for computing dynamic prices that can
be adopted by retailers.
• Functioning retail markets could provide innovative products and pricing models for various customer
needs. For example, in Finland innovative products are being introduced, a nd customers can opt to
choose the product and pricing method best suited to their needs (such as hourly dynamic pricing,
retailers buying excess solar photovoltaic generation as a marketbased solution, ToU tariffs, etc.).
• Regulation should set clear roles and responsibilities for market parties. Long-term foreseeable
regulation is needed.
• Liberalised markets, as opposed to regulated markets, could facilitate the market entry
System operation:
• Defining rules for co-ordination between distribution and transmission system operators
Aggregators:
• Provide grid-related services to DSOs, if a market is established
STAKEHOLDER
• Information exchange with DSOs related to capacity, location, type of DERs
ROLES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES Distribution system operators:
• Ensure a level-playing field for all flexibility providers
• Procure market-based flexibility services from aggregators
• Securely share consumer and grid-related data with third parties as per applicable data privacy
and sharing norms
• Better forecasts for DER services based on past data or historical performance and
weather forecasts
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I N N OVAT I O N L A N DS C A P E B R I E F
ABBREVIATIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
AGL (n.d.), “Introducing AGL’s virtual power Ma, Z., J. D. Billanes and B. N. Jørgensen (2017),
plant”, www.agl.com.au/solar-renewables/ Aggregation Potentials for Buildings – Business
projects/power-in-numbers. Models of Demand Response and Virtual Power
Plants, MDPI.
Enbala (n.d.), “Virtual power plants:
Coming soon to a grid near you”, https:// MIT (2016), The value of Aggregators in
cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/1537427/Chapter1. Electricity Systems, MIT Center for energy and
pdf?submissionGuid=859d63d0-7af0-4c64- Environmental Policy Research, http://energy.
9cb3-1e1e3c0bd3d4. mit.edu/publication/the-value-of-aggregators-in-
electricity-systems/
Frontier Economics (2018), South Australia’s
Virtual Power Plant, Frontier Economics, NYISO (2017), Distributed Energy Resources
Melbourne, https://www.frontier-economics.com. Roadmap for New York’s Wholesale Electricity
au/documents/2018/02/south-australian-virtual- Markets, New York State Independent System
power-plant-summary-note.pdf/. Operator, Rensselaer, New York.
Government of South Australia (2017), Research and Markets (2018), “Virtual power
“South Australia’s Virtual Power Plant”, http:// plant market – Industry forecast, 2017-2023”,
ourenergyplan.sa.gov.au/virtual-power-plant. Business Wire, www.businesswire.com/news/
home/20171017006045/en/Virtual-Power-Plant-
Hanley, S. (2016), “Netherlands utility to use Market---Industry-Forecast.
Tesla Powerwall to make a ’Virtual Power Plant'”,
Teslarati, www.teslarati.com/netherlands-utility- Stem (2019), www.stem.com.
use-tesla-powerwall-make-virtual-power-plant/.
TNO (2016), PowerMatcher, Matching energy
IRENA (2019), Innovation landscape for a supply and demand to expand smart energy
renewable-powered future, International potential, Netherlands Organisation for Applied
Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi, Scientific Research (TNO), The Hague,
www.irena.org/publications/2019/Feb/ www.tno.nl/media/1986/tno-powermatcher-
Innovation-landscape-for-a-renewable-powered- jrv140416-01.pdf.
future.
14
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AGGREGATORS
INNOVATION LANDSCAPE BRIEF
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