Energy sector is going through massive innovation. As the world population rapidly grows, energy consumption is inevitably on the rise and technologies are trying to keep up with the ever growing demand for electricity. Since the global energy market changes, energy companies around the world have to follow the changing industry trends. The electricity demand is at a record high and engineers are trying to find new ways to generate and distribute power. The traditional way of handling energy is not sufficient to keep up with the industry demands, and as technology improved tremendously in the past decade, it’s not a wonder that a concept like a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) emerged and has become a popular trend in numerous countries.
The term Power Plant should not be limited to large facilities that produce energy and then distribute it to consumers. With today’s advanced technology, it is possible to “virtually” unify several distributed energy resources, thus mixing their strengths and getting rid of their weaknesses. We are slowly moving away from the old-fashioned energy management toward a decentralized power production in smaller facilities. And that is exactly what VPP is all about. A unified, integrated management system that enables participation in wholesale energy markets and systems operations through the interconnection of diverse types of distributed energy resources and multiple energy storage systems distributed within the smart grid.
Virtual Power Plant is a trend that is rapidly emerging in Asia but has been around for awhile in the US and Europe. Global market of this cloud-based distributed power plant that is connecting and operating several small systems in coordination, is expected to reach USD 540 million by 2022 (source). Industry specialists predict that VPP market size will continue to grow, taking into account that the entire renewable energy market keeps growing at an unstoppable speed, with worth estimation of astonishing USD 2.15 trillion by 2025 (source). The potential of energy market was so evident throughout Asia that I-ON Communications started engaging in energy business since 2010. After developing reliable energy data management technology, I-ON has been running various energy projects, first in Korea and then in various countries around the globe, with consistent expansion to more and more countries each year. At the moment, I-ON is running VPP related projects in Malaysia, Japan, and Thailand.
In this time and age data is everything, and the same holds true for energy data. Being able to efficiently manage energy, something that our society still highly depends on, is of true value in today’s world where traditional power generation methods are challenged by renewable energy generation and management. On top of that, the government is trying to promote energy saving and little by little, more countries are stepping up to make new laws and regulations that would help and support energy reduction. It also leaves a legal ground for companies, but also households, to engage in energy trading while preserving the environment at the same time.
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