Virtual power plant centre for Stadtwerke Krefeld

VPP with CHP? NPAA (No Problem At All)!

This project started with something new that emerged from the research world, specifically a concept referred to as “economically oriented operational management” for decentralised block-type thermal power stations, that is, combined heat and power units (CHPs). It is precisely these CHPs that play a key role at SWK Stadtwerke Krefeld AG. It operates several CHPs that are located in and around Krefeld and uses a virtual power plant (VPP) to control them. Stadtwerke wanted to implement the newly developed concept in this VPP.

Make the results of research part of day-to-day life? That’s exactly what we do! “Economically oriented operational management” required a set of control focal points that differed from a conventional VPP. This is because the systems no longer needed to be paired only with the local heat demand of a building, as was the case in the past, but are now also integrated into the energy market. An additional challenge is that the local and district heating grid needed to be expanded to accommodate decentralised plants.

The research project had already produced a new version of the conventional VPP: the virtual power plant centre. Similar to this, we also developed an additional web cockpit for the Seven2one platform. The power plant centre facilitates forecasting processes, optimises the plant schedule, communicates with the control software of the power plants and much more. This results in more economical operation of the CHPs.
In a second step, the Virtual Power Plant Centre was comprehensively expanded: In addition to new features, it also was given a new rights concept for users. This meant that the plant operators of the individual CHPs and the plant technicians can now access it alongside the central operators.

• A high degree of automation
• Better routine usability through customised access rights
• User-friendliness with an Excel look and feel
• Greater economic efficiency