Virtual hub to take charge of Hainan power grid

The virtual power plant management center of Hainan province, the first provincial-level center of its kind in China, was established in Haikou, the provincial capital, on Wednesday. The province's first virtual power plants were also launched.

Under the coordination of the management center, the virtual plants are expected to intelligently enhance the balance between the supply and demand of the island's power grid and improve the ability to guarantee power supply in the province, according to the Hainan Development and Reform Commission.

Unlike conventional power units, the virtual power plants do not directly generate electricity. Instead, a set of energy management systems coordinates, optimizes and allocates electricity at utility scale, using advanced communication technologies and software systems. The systems aim to promote low-carbon and energy-efficient development.

The virtual power plants will pool diverse energy sources, deploy upstream power through a midstream digital platform based on the power supply and demand in the market, and then distribute the power down stream.

The power sources of the virtual power plants can be divided into two categories, according to Zhang Changqing, a member of the virtual power plant construction team of China Southern Power Grid's Hainan branch.

One is the surplus energy provided to the grid by the integration of various distributed power sources, including power facilities, energy storage and electric vehicles. The other is electricity that is saved as the plants manage their adjustable loads during peak consumption, he said.

The virtual power plant management center of Hainan has been connected to various power sources, including 127 charging and battery changing stations, five distributed photovoltaic stations, one energy storage station and several 5G base stations and central air conditioners. Combined, the network has a scale of 500,000 kilowatts, which is close to the installed capacity of a large power plant.

"When the power consumption peak occurs, at a time when temperatures are high, the virtual power plants will send a demand notification to the power users in their management system. The users can respond and contribute (to reducing the demand) depending on their own situation," Zhang said.

If the user reduces the electricity load during the agreed period, the virtual power plants will compare the company's previous overall electricity consumption data during the same period and compensate the company for its reduced electricity consumption, Zhang explained.

The first batch of virtual power plants in Hainan are mainly aimed at companies in industrial and commercial areas, and will expand to agricultural and residential users in the future.

"The new energy vehicles running on the street, for instance, are actually like mobile power banks. Adjusting the price of electricity through the market mechanism can also guide electric vehicle owners to sell electricity," Zhang said.

A provincial smart grid, electric vehicle charging networks, 5G communication networks and new energy storage networks have been built or are under construction in the province.

In the future, Hainan will actively promote the development of virtual power plants, use virtual power plant technology to incorporate adjustable energy resources into electric power and electricity consumption, and promote Hainan's power supply-demand balance and its high-quality socioeconomic development, according to the Hainan Development and Reform Commission.

It is estimated that by 2025, the virtual power plant management center of Hainan province will be connected to a scale of at least 1 million kilowatts "to better ensure energy security and improve the level of clean energy utilization and power system efficiency", according to the commission.