Distribution network operators (DNOs) will be the “key driver” for virtual power plant (VPP) business models in the UK, according to an international analyst speaking in the latest issue of PV Tech Power, Current±’s sister publication.
Energy storage analyst Valts Grintals of Delta-ee was comparing the emergence of VPPs in Germany, where models have rapidly emerged owing to the higher number of decentralised and distributed assets, compared to the UK.
He said this was down to greater economic sensitivity in the UK alongside the lower appeal for energy independence among households, a feature of the German market as well as those of Austria and Switzerland.
However he added that this would change with the growing needs of DNOs to procure flexibility, a feature of the changing UK market that is covered by case studies included in Volume 16.
These are included in sister title Energy.Storage News’ Storage and Smart Power section of the journal, which also contains contributions from the Electric Power Research Institute on the role of storage in smoothing renewables output, and part two of editor Andy Colthorpe’s look at flow energy storage technology.
Elsewhere TLT’s Maria Connelly and Stuart Urquhart look at the financing of the UK’s large scale storage projects, and a selection of case studies look at the emerging business models to take hold as the UK emerges from solar subsidies.
Volume 16 of PV Tech Power can be downloaded in full, free of charge (subscription required) here. It will also be available in print in limited quantities at October’s Solar & Storage Live event in Birmingham.