Virtual Power Plant The Power Plant of the Future 6 Weather Forecast Energy Trading An intelligent association of decentralized producers. WINDPOWERUPDATE ı Technology Wind Turbine Photovoltaic-System Small Distributed Acid Fuel Cells Biogas Hydro Power Virtual Power Plant Management Geothermal Energy Heat and Power Combined
The time of large-scale power plants has passed. The 1,000 MW blocks driven by fossil fuels and nuclear power stations are gradually disappearing from the scene. The reason: they are too expensive and inflexible for the energy production of the future. For this reason, today more and more suppliers are making use of a mix of decentralized energy producers. In this way it is possible to generate electricity and heat locally and thus avoid energy losses resulting from long transport distances. In addition to this, decentralized power-plant structures are able to react more flexibly. However, in order to be able to guarantee a secure power supply, an intelligent control system is required for the distributed units. Here, the key concept is the “virtual power plant”. A topic which is now also being worked on by the experts of Natcon7, a subsidiary of <strong>Nordex</strong> AG. “We want to produce the first prototype of energy with the aid of wind power, solar energy, photovoltaics, hydro power, biomass, biogas and geothermal heat. The use of these renewables and the conversion into electricity and heat is effected at different locations. The distributed energy producers are run as an intelligent association by means of special automation and information technologies”, explains Dirk Adam, CEO of Natcon7. The combination of many decentralized energy producers to form a virtual power plant ensures a secure supply and is extremely economically efficient. An existing virtual power plant can be extended to include further producers at any time. The location is of no consequence. As a virtual power plant is completely neutral in terms of technology, machines made by different manufacturers can be integrated into the association. The combination of many decentralized energy producers to form a virtual power plant ensures a secure supply and is extremely economically efficient. The virtual power plant reacts much more flexibly in changing energy demand than the conventional large power station is able to. This means that the road is clear for a mixture of renewables. The combination of different forms of renewable energy offers enormous advantages for the operator as fluctuations in supply and demand, resulting from weather conditions or changes in energy consumption, for example, are easy to compensate for. Here, it is important to also include permanently available producers, such as biomass and CHP (combined heat and power) plants, as well as – in the future – fuel cells. This makes it possible for a virtual power plant to react much more flexibly in changing energy demand than a conventional large power station is able to. Each integrated producer is connected to the supply grid and has his own control system which is in direct contact, via an interface, with the central control system of the virtual power plant. As a result of this connection, the central control system knows which individual and total capacity is currently available. The central control system is equipped with further communication interfaces, via which it is provided with additional information. For example, the central control system is able to evaluate weather forecasts for the individual locations as well as data on the current and expected demand situation on the energy market. The sale of surplus electricity on the energy exchange is included. This means that the central control system is in a position to coordinate the power generation of the association efficiently and in line with demand on the basis of reliable information. ? Did You Know That... • from October to December this year, <strong>Nordex</strong> installs almost 2 wind turbines each day in each week somewhere in the world. • the wind energy sector uses 300,000 tonnes more steel than the German ship building industry. • in France, trucks with <strong>Nordex</strong> wind turbine parts of up to 29 metres had to pass over a local petanque field in order to get through a very narrow turn. This was done according to an agreement with the mayor of the village, and of course, <strong>Nordex</strong> rebuilt the petanque field after use. • during the last decade, the investment costs in a wind turbine have been deducted with more than 50 %. • the wind energy saves external costs corresponding to an amount of 2.5 – 20 Ct/kWh. No. <strong>15</strong> ı December 2002 7
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