Flinders University deploys fleet-based vehicle to grid virtual power plant
From left to right: Flinders University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Colin Stirling, and South Australia Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Energy and Mining, Tom Koutsantonis (photo courtesy of ENGIE)
Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, has put a vehicle to grid (V2G) virtual power plant (VPP) into operation.
Deployed by Sunverge, a provider of distributed energy resource (DER) control and aggregation, as well as utilities company Engie, the system was developed in partnership with Nissan Australia and Wallbox, utilising the university’s electric vehicle (EV) fleet to provide grid services.
The project makes use of aggregated and managed bi-directional EV charging in support of the university’s efforts towards fleet electrification, microgrid operations and participation in the wholesale energy market.
“We’re proud of the work we’ve done with ENGIE and Flinders University on this groundbreaking V2G project,” commented Martin Milani, CEO of Sunverge, on the new VPP system. “Bi-directional EV charging is very new, and very few companies have mature products in the market today that can optimise against the multiple dynamic constraints on both sides of the meter.
“As the EV market rapidly matures, V2G services will give fleet operators new ways to save on charging costs, monetise their electric vehicle fleets, and provide grid operators with flexible and mobile assets to support a more flexible, reliable and sustainable electric grid.”
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The Sunverge platform is managing the operations of the EV fleet, incorporating each vehicle’s driving constraints and ensuring that adequate operational charge is available for daily driving, while optimising multiple V2G value streams including wholesale market price arbitrage, peak demand management, and optimisation of behind-the-meter generation and demand.
The platform continuously optimises against changing market prices while adhering to multiple dynamic constraints, including EV availability, desired state of charge levels, as well as distribution and local grid network constraints.
“There has been a great deal of buzz around vehicle-to-grid VPPs, but very few operational projects that provide meaningful multi-service capabilities with a variety of grid services beyond just time-of-day managed charging and simple demand response,” added Milani.
“This project demonstrates the immense potential of utilising the growing fleet of electric vehicles to provide system flexibility and critical T&D grid services.”
