Virtual Power Plant as an Arbitrageur in Power Market

A group of energy resources distributed in the network which are placed under a unified and integrated management with a central control system is called a Virtual Power Plant (VPP). Electromechanical storage units composing VPP may provide arbitrage opportunities in power market. This paper proposes a new mathematical approach based on a comprehensive model for arbitrage of a VPP in power markets. In our proposed model network topology، VPP constraints and network constraints are considered. The method determines the amount of energy and reserve that should be bought or sold in day-ahead markets، commitment of distributed energy resources، charge or discharge status of storage units and the amount of load curtailments. By applying the proposed model to a case study، different arbitrage opportunities for VPP in power market are investigated.