The virtual power plant in North China's Shanxi province's electricity market recently saw its aggregated users grow from 107 to 122, with the aggregated capacity increasing from 821,800 kilowatts to 2.01 million KW.

Unlike traditional power plants, virtual power plants integrate various distributed energy resources, adjustable loads, and storage systems to form a "virtual generation unit". Digital technology allows for the real-time monitoring of these dispersed resources' power generation and consumption.

By constructing virtual power plants, the province integrates numerous small-scale and widely-distributed demand-side resources, participating in spot trading and load adjustment daily through quantity and price offering. This actively supports new energy consumption and intelligent grid balance, providing robust support for power supply security and energy transition.

Since Shanxi initiated virtual power plant market trading on Sep 1, 2023, the virtual power plant has operated continuously for 16 months at a trading frequency of 15 minutes per transaction, settling 384 million kilowatt-hours and earning a total bonus of 2.59 million yuan ($358,137.11).