A virtual power plant is an online platform which aggregates people’s production and consumption of solar energy and stores the surplus locally. Due to this aggregation it’s possible to trade energy on the wholesale markets: the use of a home battery lets you store energy when electricity prices are low and discharge the battery when there are high.
Trading on the energy markets with battery systems installed at households is new. The concept requires a significant amount of ICT infrastructure, and will be connected to Alliander’s smart grid. Through a pilot with more than 35 households in Amsterdam Nieuw-West, City-zen's partners will be able to test and improve the use of home batteries as a virtual power plant. After extensive testing upscaling to other neighborhoods in the city will be possible.
Currently already 25 home batteries have been installed at homes in the Amsterdam Nieuw-West district.
