In China, as a new product under the reform of the power system, virtual power plants are rooted in the traditional power system and power system on the one hand, and can only develop by conforming to the original operation inertia. On the other hand, as a new part of the new power system, it is naturally chased and competed for by various new and old players (academic name: stakeholders, Stakeholder) to meet the demands of various stakeholders.
It is not as simple as "aggregating load-side resources and participating in the interaction of the power market" as it seems, but a variety of power games at a deep level, and the results of the games will also greatly affect the development path and speed of China's virtual power plants.
In general, the game of thrones of the virtual power plant includes the following four layers of games.
Moreover, these layers of games are also interrelated, forming a more complex network of causality.
Virtual power plants and many other new power system applications have emerged in this complex network.
First, the horizontal game within the power grid enterprises
As a vacuum zone for new power system services, virtual power plants reflect the power game between different departments within the power grid system.
Traditionally, it is mainly the game between the two front-line business departments of dispatching (this article mainly refers to the provincial dispatching department, referred to as the provincial dispatching department) and marketing (mainly referring to the marketing department of the provincial power grid company and the marketing department of the municipal power supply company), and the recently established distribution network department has brought greater uncertainty to this game.
A picture is worth a thousand words:
For the provincial centralized electric energy market and ancillary service market, the provincial dispatch has the power of technical management (such as safety check), but from the granularity of trading products, only the transmission network of 220kV and above is managed, similar to a commodity exchange.
99% of the resources of the virtual power plant, whether it is distributed photovoltaic, energy storage, charging piles, controllable load, and grid-connected voltage level are all under 220kV, and most of them are behind the user's meter (that is, within the planning red line, which belongs to the user's internal assets), and the resources are also characterized by small capacity, slow response speed, and less interaction with the transmission grid.
Therefore, the current construction of virtual power plants shows an obvious trend of "polarization".
(1) In the power supply power market of "oversupply", dispatching has a greater say in power generation enterprises and large power users, and virtual power plants are mainly based on the transaction of large-scale non-power resources (such as large-scale energy storage and large-scale industrial loads), and are characterized by provincial-level centralized auxiliary service markets, such as Shanxi and northern Hebei.
(2) In the load-based power market where "demand exceeds supply", due to the active position of the load side, the marketing department of the load-side business management is the leading factor, characterized by the "city-level virtual power plant management platform", and the urban virtual power plant is the scale, and the participation of the dispatching department is low, such as the virtual power plant platforms in Jiangsu, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Shenzhen.
Due to the establishment of the distribution network department, the virtual power plant is the aggregation of "load side" resources, participate in the interaction between the distribution network and the main network, is a public resource transaction with the public distribution network as the carrier, and the distribution network department also hopes to participate in and lead the decentralized power market transaction represented by the virtual power plant.
Therefore, it reflects the horizontal game of the three departments of "scheduling", "marketing" and "distribution network" at the level of provincial power grid companies, which can be said to be a game between articles.
Second, the vertical game within the power grid enterprises
Due to the design of the power grid management system, similar to the government's "block" governance model, that is, there is also a game between the headquarters and the local block.
The most typical is the intensification of business management, through the unified promotion of the business management system, eliminate the differences in business management between different provinces, and centralize the business management power to the headquarters.
For example, local government departments want to see electricity consumption data to grasp the trend of local economic development, but the power consumption data is managed and released at the level of the power grid headquarters, making it difficult for local governments to obtain real-time and accurate data.
As a result, we see that some "urban virtual power plants" are led by local energy authorities and built with the cooperation of local power companies.
In the construction of urban virtual power plants, local power companies can also obtain the ability to compete with the business department of the headquarters with the help of cooperation with local governments, and then obtain greater business flexibility, which is a win-win cooperation.
This reflects the "central and local vertical game" between local power companies and corporate headquarters.
3. Horizontal game between power grid and government
From the content of the second part, the third aspect of the game is involved, that is, the relationship between power grid enterprises and the government.
Since the local government is the primary responsible person for the safety and economic operation of local power supply, from the policy level, the virtual power plant involves power users, power generation enterprises and multiple relevant entities of the power grid, and there is a public (external) value in the demand response and economic regulation of the local power system, which is the administrative management of the local power system and should be led by the local government.
Therefore, in terms of trading, management, and operation, on the one hand, local governments need to take the lead, lead and implement policies, and on the other hand, local governments also want to participate more in and lead the implementation of city-level virtual power plants due to the needs of public services and government economic management.
Due to the introduction of local governments, local power companies have more flexibility within the enterprise, and the enthusiasm of local governments will also have a positive impact on the promotion of local projects of central power enterprises.
At the local level, between local power companies and corporate headquarters, and between local governments, virtual power plants are a triangular relationship, with both mutual cooperation and mutual games.
Fourth, the multilateral game of the power economic operation system
Going a little deeper, in fact, there is not only a "headquarters-local" game within the power grid, but also a certain game of local interests-central interests in the entire power economic operation system.
In the traditional power system, due to the dominance of centralized power generation, the number of power generation groups is small (five large and six small), and the power grid has a natural monopoly, and the power generation-grid has a greater say in local governments. Moreover, the main power generation enterprises and power grids are central enterprises, and the taxes are handed over to the central government, and at the same time, through policies such as "west-to-east power transmission", the "transfer payment" of the power industry is realized, which is also a reflection of the relationship between the central government and the local government to a certain extent.
However, in the new power system, because the main resources of virtual power plants come from power enterprises, most of the distributed photovoltaic and distributed energy storage are installed within the enterprise (mainly self-consumption), and many investors in charging piles are government platform companies, and state-owned enterprises (especially local state-owned enterprises) generate large local loads, so they are naturally an important source of controllable loads.
Therefore, virtual power plants have become an important starting point for local energy construction and operation, and local governments and platform companies such as urban investment companies naturally regard new energy as the second growth point of urban investment business under the trend of shrinking the main real estate business, which is quite a bit of "second real estate".
On this basis, the relationship between local energy companies, local governments, power grid companies, and traditional power generation state-owned enterprises in the context of local platforms will become richer and more subtle at the point of the competition and cooperation game of virtual power plants, and even directly determine the future trend of the new power system to a certain extent.
At the same time, it also involves a more complex multilateral game pattern between energy central enterprises (power generation groups, oil and gas enterprises) and power grid enterprises, local governments, local energy companies, and various new energy private enterprises, which will not be expanded due to the constraints of space.
5. Summary
The virtual power plant reflects the multilateral game network of complex competition and cooperation at the central, headquarters and local levels, which is the institutional factor for the birth and development of the new power system, and is far more profound and far-reaching than the simple technical and business elements of the virtual power plant software platform and virtual power plant aggregator.
However, returning to the essence of the development of the power industry is to escort the healthy development of the national economy, and all virtual power plants that are detached from this essence are only out of the local interests of enterprises and departments, and there will be no long-term development space.
Only by serving the basic policies of the country, serving the people's livelihood, serving the local economy and enterprises, and contributing to the overall welfare of the society is the original intention of the virtual power plant.
Article source: Energy Storage