Virtual Battery to Aggregate Diversified Storage-like Flexibility

Energy storage is indispensable as the volatile and low-inertia renewable energy generators start to dominate the power supply. In addition to the investment of entitative storage devices, using the virtual battery (VB) model to capture the inherent storage capability from energy conversion/transmission/consumption processes is a more economical and flexible alternative. Typical VB sources include thermally controlled loads, smart buildings, electric vehicles, gas and heat pipelines. The VB provides a uniform interface for small-scale and heterogeneous storage resources to provide system-level flexibility support, e.g., frequency regulation, reserve, ramping support, and energy arbitrage. However, there are still obstacles restricting the real-world application of the VB. How to dynamically estimate states and parameters of flexible resources? How to strike a balance between accuracy and conciseness when modeling the VB? How to develop efficient and scalable aggregation techniques for grid-level integration of the VB? How to design commercial mechanisms to engage flexible resources owners? This panel will present state-of-the-art and practice-oriented research related to the state estimation, modeling, aggregation, and mechanism design of the VB. Panelists will also explore future research topics to promote the VB implementation.