The prospects of establishing a virtual power plant in Russia were discussed by the participants of the session «Application of Digital Solutions in RES» within RIEF-2024.

 

As was stated by Ekaterina Baibakova, a representative of Digital Energy Association, a virtual power plant (VPP) consists of the mixed decentralized generation sources, for example, of photo elements, wind turbines or hydro-electric power plants connected by the central control system. This system makes it possible for the users to buy or sell electric energy on the market.

Baibakova noted that the use of such plants promotes reliability of power supply where the energy is received from renewable sources that are notable for instability. The global VPP market is currently experiencing explosive growth: in 2023 its volume was 1.6 million dollars, and it is expected to reach 6.6 million dollars by 2030.

The session participants have taken interest in the opportunity to create a virtual power plant in Russia. In the experts’ opinion, under certain conditions, such plant may also be made in RF. In its turn, Digital Energy Association can act as a uniform expert platform for discussing the issues related to the development of the virtual power plant in Russia.