Tesla has announced they will build the world's largest virtual power plant in Australia. Of course, while this is good news, many people are left wondering what the hell a virtual power plant is?
The project may be the largest, but it isn't the first. Several smaller scale projects are underway in the US. A 'virtual power plant' is the the future of distributed generation. This particular project involves giving 50,000 homes solar panels and battery storage. Those systems will coordinate with each other to produce and store electricity similar to a power-plant, albeit in tens of thousands of houses as opposed to one central location.
The aim of this project is to reduce the stress on the electrical grid by reducing transmission, and offsetting peak generation with stored energy. This power plant should provide a good example for future energy systems across the globe.
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