Beyond Demand Response: Integrating Aggregated DERs in Western Australia’s Wholesale Electricity Market

Electricity networks are increasingly required to operate under very high ramp rates, between low demand at noon and large evening peaks due to high levels of distributed residential PV generation. This is of most concern in Western Australia, home of the largest islanded electricity network. To address this increasing volatility, better coordination and utilization is possible through orchestration of distributed energy resources and integration in the energy market. Using market price signals to prompt aggregated DER to curtail generation, charge batteries and provide energy during the evening peak, virtual power plants consisting of distributed generation and storage demonstrate services and capabilities that improve the energy system stability and reliability.