Enel X deploys ‘world first’ battery swapping VPP in Taiwan
Enel X has officially deployed 2,500 battery swapping systems in a Taiwanese Virtual Power Plant (VPP), claiming it as the first commercial deployment of this technology worldwide.
Enel Group’s demand response company deployed the battery systems supplied by Taiwan-based Gogoro Inc., a battery swapping system tech developer, across the 1,000 locations that fall within Enel X’s Taiwan VPP.
The rollout follows completion of a successful pilot programme in 2022; the partnership between the two was initially announced in 2021.
The 2022 pilot demonstrated that the Gogoro Network could safely pause charging if there was a grid imbalance or provide energy back to the grid as demand required.
Once the demand subsided, Enel X’s VPP sent a signal to the Gogoro Network to safely restore grid consumption. The Gogoro Network performed these services without causing any interruptions to Gogoro Network battery swapping customers, demonstrating that the network is an ideal resource to support Taiwan’s energy transition.
Integrating Gogoro Network battery swapping energy into the Enel X VPP in Taiwan has the same effect, states the partners in a joint press release, as bringing new energy generation online to meet energy demand.
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Battery swapping VPP and Taiwan energy trading
In announcing the successful launch, Horace Luke, founder and CEO of Gogoro, commented on the significance of using battery swapping technology within a VPP: “It is the first time this technology has been deployed this way in the world, and it creates a new Gogoro revenue stream beyond mobility.
“We have always believed that time-shifting energy was key to enabling the sustainable transformation of energy and transportation…Today, when the energy grid begins to max out, we can dynamically pause our energy usage or provide energy back to the grid while continuing to operate our battery swapping service independently as needed.”
The two companies have now deployed nearly 1,300 GoStations across more than 500 locations this month and plan to deploy more than 2,500 GoStations in total across 1,000 locations by mid-2023 to support grid efficiency and stability.
In 2021, Taiwan Power Corporation (TPC) forecast that the future business opportunity in the electricity-sharing economy in Taiwan is predicted to be tens of billions of New Taiwan Dollars (NT$10 billion = $327 million).
President of Taiwan Power Company (TPC), Yao-Ting Wang, commented on the commercial deployment and how it can be used within their trading service, stating how it presents a “significant step in our ancillary service to increase energy use efficiency.
“Enel X’s VPP aggregates Gogoro’s battery swapping energy load to contribute to TPC’s Energy Trading Platform for ancillary service. Our Energy Trading Platform allows organisations like Gogoro to be active contributors of energy in Taiwan and we encourage more businesses to participate through professional aggregators like Enel X, to work together towards Taiwan’s renewable energy future.”
Enel X’s VPP in the country was initially announced in 2020 as part of the company’s entrance into Taiwan’s demand response market.
According to TPC, Enel X Taiwan has the largest VPP in Taiwan’s energy market today, managing the largest volume of distributed energy resources in TPC’s Energy Trading Platform.
