Virtual Power Plant for South America

energy & meteo systems has continued its successful engagement in Latin America with a further project in cooperation with the German Corporation for International Cooperation GmbH (GIZ). Following the successful completion of the first performance forecast project in Mexico and Central America, commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as part of the developPPP program, the focus is now on the transfer of expertise about the Virtual Power Plant to South America.

After the accomplished conclusion of the first developPPP on the topic of power predictions in Mexico and Central America, the focus now turns to the transfer of Virtual Power Plant expertise to South America.

Dynamic expansion of renewable energies

Argentina has especially ambitious goals for the Energy Transition. By 2025, the current share of renewable energies is to climb from 2% to 20%. The RenovAr call for tender series, initiated for this purpose, has lead to the closing of power purchase agreements for large-scale wind and solar farms, to be built successively and connected to the public electricity grid. Brazil is additionally placing emphasis on renewable energies in its planned diversification of the current energy mix dominated by hydroelectric power. By the year 2026, the share (excluding hydroelectric power) is to increase from 24% to 29% with the planned expansion of solar power from 3 GW to 9 GW as well as of wind power from 15 GW to 27 GW playing a central roll, in particular.

The rapid increase of renewable energies has created challenges for systems management concepts traditionally used by grid operators. Precise information on the current and expected input amounts, on their occurrence at various grid node points as well as on the remote controlling of wind and solar power plants are becoming increasingly important.

energy & meteo systems advises on the Energy Transition

This is where the development partnership with the economy, a project co-financed and set to run for two and a half years (2018 – mid 2021) by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) begins. In workshops, energy & meteo sytems will convey fundamental knowledge on the Virtual Power Plant and wind and solar power predictions to the key players in the South American energy sector. A practical, real-world example of this technology is intended for the grid operators in Argentina (CAMMESA) and Columbia (XM). In making the Virtual Power Plant available, the project partners are given the power to digitally link a large number of wind and solar farms, to control their aggregated power input and to remotely operate them when necessary. Moreover, energy & meteo system will also generate wind and solar power predictions and integrate these in the Virtual Power Plant. CAMMESA and XM can then adapt their dispatch planning on the basis of the predicted green power input and also anticipate possible bottlenecks at grid nodes. The GIZ in Chile supports the implementation of the development partnership through public relations, network building and the organization of workshops.

First application of the Virtual Power Plant by energy & meteo systems in Latin America

For energy & meteo systems, the special innovation character of the developPPP.de is that it is the first application of its Virtual Power Plant as a control center for grid operators in Latin America, underscoring once again the diverse application possibilities of this key technology for grid and market integration of renewable energies.

Information to: develoPPP 1