Overseas Edition of People's Daily, Beijing, April 13 (Reporter Liao Ruiling) With the accelerated advancement of the construction of new power systems and the construction of power market, the development conditions of virtual power plants are becoming increasingly mature, the role is becoming increasingly significant, and the demand is growing. Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration issued the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Virtual Power Plants" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), proposing that by 2027, the virtual power plant construction, operation and management mechanism will be mature and standardized, and the mechanism for participating in the power market will be sound and perfect, and the national virtual power plant regulation capacity will reach more than 20 million kilowatts. By 2030, the application scenarios of virtual power plants will be further expanded, and various business models will be innovatively developed, and the adjustment capacity of virtual power plants across the country will reach more than 50 million kilowatts.

Virtual power plants are based on the power system architecture, using modern information and communication, system integrated control and other technologies to aggregate various dispersed resources such as distributed power supplies, adjustable loads, energy storage, etc., and as a new type of business entity, they participate in power operation organization model in the optimization of power system and power market transactions. Virtual power plants play an important role in enhancing the power supply capacity, promoting the consumption of new energy, and improving the power market system. In terms of system operation, it can provide a variety of adjustment services such as peak shaving, frequency shaving, backup and other adjustment services. In terms of demand-side management, load resources can be organized to carry out demand response. In terms of market transactions, dispersed resources can be aggregated and participated in market transactions.

A relevant person in charge of the National Energy Administration introduced that in recent years, various localities and related enterprises have actively explored the construction of virtual power plants, and provinces such as Guangdong, Shandong, and Shanxi have developed rapidly. But overall, the construction of virtual power plants nationwide is still in its infancy, and all parties still lack a unified understanding of the definition and functional positioning of virtual power plants. The management requirements, market mechanisms and standard systems for adapting to the development of virtual power plants need to be further improved. On the basis of standardizing the definition and functional positioning of virtual power plants, the opinions propose key tasks such as promoting development according to local conditions, improving the level of construction and operation management, improving mechanisms such as participating in the power market, improving the level of safe operation, and promoting technological innovation and the construction of standard and specification systems.

The opinions propose to continue to enrich the business model of virtual power plants, promote virtual power plants to base themselves on their core functions, fairly participate in various power markets or demand responses, and obtain corresponding benefits. Virtual power plants are encouraged to carry out business innovation, provide comprehensive energy services such as energy saving services, energy data analysis, energy solution design, carbon trading-related services, and broaden revenue channels.

A relevant person in charge of the National Energy Administration said that formulating opinions is an effective measure to support private enterprises in the development and construction of the energy and power field. Compared with traditional energy projects, virtual power plants have the characteristics of relatively small capital demand, flexible operation and high marketization, which is suitable for private enterprises to use their own advantages to participate in investment. Judging from the development situation, private enterprises in some regions such as Shenzhen have become the main force in investing in and operating virtual power plants. The opinions clearly state that strongly support private enterprises to invest in virtual power plants will play an important role in promoting the development of the private economy.