A new performance index for evaluating community virtual power plant with domestic storage

Energy storage is a key component of the smart grid as it can be used to provide both peak and off-peak services to the grid, frequency regulation service, smoothen peak and trough of renewable generation, etc. In such a system, prosumers with embedded battery energy storage can be aggregated into a local community virtual power plant (VPP). Whilst many papers have been presented showing how virtual power plants could operate, it has been difficult to evaluate and compare their performance with respect to the grid requirements. In this paper, we present a methodology for evaluating VPP performance, and propose a novel performance index called the “Cumulative Performance Index” CPI, that can be used to evaluate VPPs under various scenarios. The CPI is derived based on grid requirements and VPP operation. In this paper we demonstrate the use of CPI to evaluate the optimization of a VPP under a pricing scheme using different initial battery conditions. The results shows how best grid operation does not necessarily match best prosumer or VPP operator benefit.