The OIEH has initiated the connecting of its members from the sectors of biogas and biomass with the technological company KOER, also a member of OIEH, through the education on mFRR (manual Frequency Restoration Reserve) and presentation of the model of providing this supporting service by way of the first virtual electric power plant in Croatia.
By developing the infrastructure of the first virtual electric power plant and its activation, KOER has at the same time, at the beginning of this year, become the first Croatian aggregator – a new participant in the electric energy market that is a link between the electric power market and the end users who are part of the virtual power plant. KOER, as the aggregator, manages the virtual power plant while the end users put part of their production capacities and power consumption at their disposal. This is precisely where the potential was recognized for the participation of the plants from the biogas and biomass sectors that would help them achieve added value – Marko Lasić from the KOER virtual electric power plant pointed out clarifying the supporting service model.
The virtual power plant unites producers, and consumers as well as the storage of electric power which can be located anywhere within Croatia’s electric power system. This way the possibility of multiple positive effects open up for all those included – the end users are given the opportunity to become active participants in the electric power market and that way attain additional revenue, while the Croatian transmission system operator (HOPS) is provided with supporting services geared at achieving optimal management and balancing of the electric energy system.
HOPS has the legal obligation to balance the Croatian electric power system and in order to fulfill that obligation it ensures reserve volumes or the flexibility of the grid users. Simply put, in order for the system to function, the production and consumption of electric power have to be in balance all the time. This is precisely why the role of the aggregator and virtual power plant is so important for the centralized management of new distributed sources and consumers of electric power. Aggregators are also recognized in the EU regulations and in the Croatian national legislation because they are important and required in the electric power system which is rapidly being decentralized primarily due to the integration of renewable energy sources but also to the trend of electrifying transport and other sectors. The Croatian electric power system is undergoing rapid decentralization and the virtual power plant offers the required service of balancing which is exceptionally important for the connecting of new capacities of renewable energy sources into the electric energy system and transition of states to sustainable ways of consumption and production of electric power. In conditions of the existing energy situation, the stability of the electric energy system is an exceptionally important task.
The balancing of the electric energy system is achieved by the virtual power plant in such a way that upon the request of the operator it decreases the consumption of end users that are part of the virtual power plant which is in effect equal to the activation of a real power plant that substitutes the lack of electric power in the system in order to achieve a balance between energy production and consumption. Up to now, the service available through the KOER virtual power plant was limited to end-user consumption but quite soon the service of increasing consumption will also be introduced since in the electric energy system the surplus of energy creates a problem just as the lack of energy does. Partners of the virtual power plant can include consumers or producers of electric power which have a manageable consumption of production ranging from 100 or so kilowatts to tens of megawatts. The financial benefits of participating in this balancing service were first recognized by the electric power users and now it’s time for its producers to join in. The provision of information with the presentation of this model organized for the electric power producers from the biogas and biomass sectors has proved to be very useful and has encouraged the reaching of an agreement on the first concrete steps that will serve as a basis for revenue assessment – analyses of capacities a plant can make available to the virtual electric power plant for balancing the electric energy system and management methods.
In extremely challenging circumstances faced by heating plants due to the multiple rises in the prices of raw materials that caused great losses, participation in providing the service of balancing the electric energy system through the virtual power plant offers the possibility of achieving additional revenue that will help them to survive and maintain their operations.
