2024 Capability Portfolio Digital | Page 115

Clean Energy Capability Portfolio | Grid Transformation

Virtual Power Plant

Equipment

Using real-time simulation and testing expertise to assess the potential for maloperation of Virtual Power Plant ( VPP ) hardware , including inverter disconnections , communication system failures and energy swings between competing VPP operators . Large-scale VPP systems may command the operation of tens of thousands of energy storage and PV inverters , resulting in the aggregation of hundreds of generation and load MW .

Competitive Advantage

• Database of inverter behaviours and disturbance reactions
• Innovative models verified through experimental assessment
• Expertise in hardware-in-the-loop testing and assessment of virtual power plants
• Skills in assessing performance improvements in both technical and economic terms
• Rapid modelling and simulation capability

Impact

• Comparison of peak loads with and without VPP control
• De-risk VPP investments and optimise VPP performance
• Avoidance of large-scale disruption to VPP based on inverter performances
• Proof of concept hardware and software assessment

Our Collaborators

• Sungrow
• Hi-Vis Group
• A . W . Tyree Foundation

More Information

Associate Professor Georgios Konstantinou
School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications
T : + 61 2 9385 7405
E : g . konstantinou @ unsw . edu . au
Dr Branislav Hredzak
School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications
T : + 61 2 9385 4895
E : b . hredzak @ unsw . edu . au
Professor John Fletcher

Successful Applications

• Sungrow – control and power hardware-in-the-loop
School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications
T : + 61 2 9385 6007

Capabilities and Facilities

E : john . fletcher @ unsw . edu . au
• A fleet of current inverter makes and models
• 10 kVA experimental DC microgrid with diverse set of loads and generators
• 18-rack RTDS capable of modelling VPP systems

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• OPAL-RT real-time simulator for high-resolution simulations