Irish-based smart grid technology company GridBeyond says it has raised €52.25 million ($A86 million) in a new funding round that will help it expand its virtual power plant business, including in Australia, and help customers match load with green energy output.

In the dynamic Australian energy market, VPPs are playing a pivotal role in unlocking new revenue streams while providing grid support by balancing supply and demand.

Origin Energy has claimed bragging rights over rival AGL for the largest virtual power plant in Australia – and perhaps the world – as it outlines the strategies it is deploying to manage the rising shares of intermittent wind and solar energy in the grid.

By testing energy use in multiple homes in a real world setting ARENA hopes to unlock the potential of smart homes.

This report presents a high-level summary of the demand flexibility initiatives currently underway in Australia; outlinig four key pathways operating to incentivise demand-side participation. The report overlays this information on the ARENA-funded and external trials in detailed charts and tables.

Project Symphony’s final report presents the 18 recommendations found whilst assessing the viability of DER orchestration. These actionable recommendations are highlighted through the framework of four ‘pillars’. This being Technical, Customer, Value, and Policy & Regulation.

Australian researchers have found that if 10% of vehicles are electric and utilize V2G connections, they could reduce peak electricity demand at local substations by 6% and save car owners hundreds of dollars per year on charging costs.

Visiongain has published a new report entitled Virtual Power Plant (VPP) Market Report 2024-2034: Forecasts by Component (Software, Hardware), by Technology (Demand Response VPP, Distributed Generation VPP, Mixed Asset VPP), by End-user (Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Utility), by Generation Source (Solar PV, Wind Power, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Units, Energy Storage Systems, Other) AND Regional and Leading National Market Analysis PLUS Analysis of Leading Companies AND COVID-19 Impact and Recovery Pattern Analysis.

How 'virtual power plants' are smashing electricity bills in Australia.

As Australia surpasses three million rooftop solar installations, households looking to buy a battery storage system or electric vehicle can be part of a new kind of power plant bringing about faster, cheaper decarbonisation. In the future, so-called ‘virtual power plants’ that harvest distributed renewable electricity and demand response will play a major role, says a new report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

Origin Energy says it will build the massive Eraring battery over two stages, and is also aiming to grow its in-house “virtual power plant” to 2GW or more to provide a “very low cost” replacement for the country’s biggest coal generator.

VPPs have been lauded as a major part of the future energy mix in the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM). When the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) announced its VPP demonstrations project in 2019, AEMO predicted there could be 700MW of VPPs by 2022.