DERMS for virtual power plants
Maintaining the reliability and affordability of the power supply has been the long-standing objective of power system operations. Flexible resources and real-time energy balancing maintain grid reliability and stability. Variability, intermittency, and continued growth of wind and solar generation, coupled with increasing adoption of DERs at the retail and customer level. Properly managed affordable demand-side resources can provide enhanced flexibility, reliability, resilience, and stability.
The landmark FERC Order 2222 mandates that DER aggregations (DERs) can participate in all ISO/RTO markets as recognized “market participants” by Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs). This far-reaching order crosses distribution and retail electric power jurisdiction, far beyond the scope of FERC Orders 719 and 745 more than a decade ago. Order 2222 formalizes the integration and participation of DERs in all aspects of bulk and retail power systems and market operations. It requires ISOs/RTOs to accept aggregated DERs as small as 100kW, with no size limit on individual assets that make up the aggregation.
A properly designed and implemented enterprise DERMS addresses both grid reliability operations and commercial aspects of dealing with DERs and the associated transactions with customers and other third-party DER asset owners.
Some industry observers view enterprise DERMS as simply an extension of a demand response management system (DRMS), ignoring the ability of an enterprise DERMS to model and assess the impacts and benefits of both DR and DER on the bulk power grid and the distribution grid. For example, a full-function enterprise DERMS such as OATI webSmartEnergy® DERMS can help provide frequency response to mitigate the impact of reduced system inertia, manage reverse power flows, and address distribution grid operating constraints such as voltage limits, phase imbalances, and grid fluctuations resulting from the intermittency of DER operations.